Where It All Began
by elvirakitties
Summary: Part 1...Harry isn't the savior Dumbledore wants. Severus becomes his guardian. The want the dark to win. They have a surprising Allie.


Chapter 1: First Year

Severus classroom door was slammed open. In strode Harry Potter, the boy was fuming as he could feel it coming off of the boy in waves. He felt the power that was rolling off of him. He was impressed. He didn't know the boy was that powerful. He certainly hid it well. He wasn't sure what this was about but he didn't want to deal with it. "What do you want, Potter?" If the house cup hadn't already been awarded he would be docking points. "Be grateful I am not going to be giving you detention for next year."

"Take me to him, now. I am sick of the lying deceitful old goat." Potter fumed, casting wards up so fast that Severus missed what the boy said, or if he even said a word. He just saw his hand wave, not a wand in sight. The wards would protect them as they talked. The wards impressed Severus, they would override anything he would have put up, and he doubted Dumbledore could get through them.

"Take you to whom?" Severus asked wondering just what exactly happened. He had never fully trust Dumbledore but knew that only those on the side of the dark had that view. The man was too sly and sneaky for his own good. He often wondered if the man should have been a Slytherin.

"Don't play games with me. I can see you mark on your left arm. It's connected to him. He is a wraith again, thanks to the old coot and his games. Casting a Compulsion and an Imperio on me, I will teach that old fraud a thing or two." Potter muttered, the sparks of power that came with those words made Severus afraid to have the boy's anger directed at him. There was something about the boy that made him wonder just how powerful the boy was and just how dark he might be.

The words, however, got Severus attention. "I am afraid you have me at a slight disadvantage."

"You mean that old goat didn't brag to everyone how the Dark Lord was possessing Quirrell, and how he almost got the stone?" He looked again at Severus, tilted his head to the right and nodded at something. "I would have thought he would have. I mean look at what he just did. He stole the house cup from Slytherin. I was surprised by that, he set them up wonderfully. Making it look like they won and then pulling the rug out from under them, all the while making those two idiots so proud, beaming at each other like the morons they are. They should be ashamed of themselves. Bloody greedy Gryffindors." The sarcasm and truth of his words struck Severus. "Back to the subject at hand, the old coot, when he put those bloody spells on me, I wasn't impressed. When he lied to me about why I was able to burn Quirrell, yes, I burned the man to death because that lying old goat used me to cast Incendio on him. He actually had the nerve to tell me it was because of my mother's love. LOVE. Can you believe that tripe?" Potter stormed around the classroom, muttering about love.

Now Severus was slightly more confused but at the same time furious, Dumbledore cast an unforgivable on a child, and used him to kill a man. "What does it matter to you? He is now gone again. Tomorrow you go back to your relatives to live like a spoiled little Prince that you are. You are free for the summer."

"You have got to be joking? Do I look like someone who is even remotely spoiled? I dress worse than a Weasley, I am the smallest boy in this whole school, most of the girls are taller than me. I couldn't even eat a full meal until after Yule holidays, and you think I am spoiled? Where the hell are you getting your information from?" He paused, again looked at Severus. "Never mind that lying old goat. I bet he keeps tossing James into your face too. This whole school is fixed on James. James this, James that, I am sick of the man. From what I have read and heard the man was a first-rate bully, just like my relatives are. Why doesn't anyone ever mention Lily?" Harry paced around the room.

Severus couldn't tell what the boy was saying but it wasn't very flattering based on the boy's magic and seemed to be focused on Dumbledore and James. That he did find interesting. The boy wasn't at all what he had thought. Severus watched him for a while, he thought about what he had said, processing his anger, his raw emotions and he finally asked, "How do you know all that?"

"Please, my relatives are muggles and aren't the brightest of them, their minds are like open books. It was very easy to read their thoughts; they also have no clue how to hide their emotions. Now the really interesting part is that up in. In the attic there are two trunks that are full of my parents' stuff. Lily wrote all about the stuff that happened, of course, James did nothing but brag about everything. The idiot." He stopped pacing for a few seconds. "My relatives have saved every letter over the years the old fraud sent them. He is paying them to take care of me, do I look taken care of? They enjoyed a free slave and got paid to beat me down. Yes, paid for it. The Headmaster's idea, oh he didn't go out and say treat me like a slave. His words were "make sure the boy doesn't get an ego", "keep him from knowing about magic" and my personal favorite "he needs to be submissive and obedient". Huh, submissive and obedient. I will show that old fraud. I want to tear his stomach open and see just how long I can keep him alive, as I play with his insides. I want to see if I can make the man bleed for what he did to me."

Now that impressed Severus. This boy was indeed dark and powerful, and there was no denying it. "I can't take you to him, as I don't know where he is."

"Great that means he wins again, he informed me tonight I was to return to those disgusting Muggles. He is lying about the wards. Told me Blood Wards are there and that I was safest there. There aren't any Blood Wards, we hate each other. There needs to be love and I need to consider it a home. I don't. I will kill them, I just know I will. I almost did before he sent Hagrid to get me."

"Hagrid?" Severus was told Pomona had visited the boy. He was told the boy had spent years learning about magic and how loving and well-loved he was.

"Oh yes, a lovely 3rd year drop out to come and tell a boy, he is a wizard but not just any wizard, a famous wizard. Had me drag out the truth like it was some big secret, I bet the lying old coot told him to make sure he didn't traumatize me. The huge oaf is too damn loyal to the old fart. He made sure to go on and on in a variety of ways to inform me how wonderful Dumbledore was, how great Gryffindor was. I won't even mention how he made sure to tell me how evil and dark Slytherin was." Harry's magic stopped sparking, but it still was clearly floating around the boy. "Now the real fun stuff starts Dumbledore sent his idiot friends, the Weasleys, to be at the train platform talking about muggles and platform 9 3/4. Granger began to tell me she knew all about me, bragged about how she was allowed to use magic over the summer." He glanced at Severus. "Did you know there are books to be given to Muggle-born or a wizard like me who don't know a thing? I didn't get those books. If it wasn't for my parents' journals I would have been totally clueless, not that I wasn't anyway. It wasn't like they wrote about the writing with a quill or about basic knowledge of potions and other classes. Probably wouldn't have helped the first few classes as my relatives locked everything up until that morning."

"Well that explains a lot." Severus was wondering what to do exactly with Potter. The boy was dark and while he did turn to Dumbledore in order to try and save Lily, he was also dark. Neither man had kept their promise to keep Lily safe. He hated spying for Dumbledore and usually never told the man the full truth. He told him just enough to keep the man happy. "I don't know what to do exactly. I can't take you to him."

"Find me a place to spend the summer, for I know I will kill them, it will only take one hit from my uncle for me to it."

"He will try and find you." Severus knew that Dumbledore liked to keep his pawns close and on a short leash. He knew because Dumbledore did it to him.

"He won't be able to. I found the tracking charms on most of my items including my glasses. I already removed them, destroyed his lovely little monitoring items in his office, the silver ones in there now are fakes, I tied them to Weasley. Was just going to switch them to Weasley, but he had some of my blood on the originals tying them to me, so had to find new ones. That took a while, as I didn't know what they were called and had to pour through all these catalogs to find matching ones." Potter informed him.

That information stunned Severus. The boy had already done all that. He wondered briefly just how much magic this boy knew. He thought for a second. "Where is your heir ring?"

"What heir ring?"

"When you went to Gringotts, didn't they give you an accounting of your vaults? Give you your heir ring and tell you what you needed to do?" Severus asked.

"I went with Hagrid, what makes you think that would have happened?" Potter answered him sarcastically.

Severus thought for a few minutes. "Are your relatives to get you tomorrow?"

"Yes, I was informed they will be picking me up, and I was to be a good little puppy and follow them home." Harry spat out.

Severus could hear the venom in the boy's voice. Severus almost laughed at that image. "Do you think you will be able to leave them as soon as you get to the house?"

"If you mean before Vernon decides to use me as a punching bag? No. He will want revenge for Hagrid giving his darling son a pig's tail. He will drag me from the car like he always does and as soon as we are in the house begin his "welcome home Harry" party. I know I will kill the man if he so much as lays on a finger or in this case, fist on me." Harry informed him.

"I can't leave here before five. The train arrives at King's Cross at 5:30, that doesn't give me much time to work on a plan." Severus said.

Harry grinned. "Oh, I think we can work on one."

Severus glanced at him. "What do you have in mind?"

"Magic of course." Harry retorted. Severus glared at him and watched the boy laugh at it. "Oh, please you haven't scared me all year, you aren't doing so now."

"It was an act all this year?" Severus remarked.

"Of course, you think I wanted those two morons running to the old coot about me? Bad enough I had to Obliviate them a few times, when I did or said something."

Severus smirked at that. "How did you not end up in Slytherin?"

"The old fool didn't tell you? I had to fight with the hat to be in Gryffindor. I knew if I was in Slytherin, he would have made my life a total hell. He would have suspected me to be dark and would have been lacing me with all kinds of potions. Not that he didn't try that a few times. To bad Weasley ate the food and drink he had put them in. That boy is clueless about casting detection charms. He eats like a pig too."

"So what is your plan?" Severus was trying to recover from this information overload he was receiving.

"Poly-juice Potion and a golem. If you leave a golem here in your quarters, while going to Surrey, Obliviate them, use Poly-juice to meet me at King's Cross. After that, I can go to the bank under some glamours. You won't have to see me again until the new school year."

Severus looked impressed. "I don't feel good about you being alone all summer. What if something happens?" He was worried about it. Too many people would be after the boy if they saw him.

"Relax, I can see the dark mark and his connection. I will also try to stay mostly in the Muggle world, no one would look for me there." Harry wasn't going to spill all of his secrets until he was sure of Snape.

"That doesn't make me feel better. You should have some property that has wards on them. I would recommend having the goblins check the wards and stay at the safest one. Dumbledore will use a tracking charm to see if he can find you if he discovers you aren't at your relatives."

"Took care of that already. Last year before I left my wonderful relatives, besides the blood they had caused me to shed, I left some hair there, been sending my Aunt hair and skin each month. She doesn't know that as she believes it is some scarves and other items each month from a lottery winning. So there is a lot of fresh skin and blood there, with the build-up to hide any signature I might leave outside of those wards."

Severus smirked. The kid thought ahead that was for sure. "How long have you been planning this escape? It sounds like you knew about Quirrell and the Dark Lord for a while."

"Been planning it since I got my letter. Now as the Dark Lord, well let's just say we agreed the old fool was a fool and we would work together. I am not sure how he is going to take being Imperio and having the Incendio spell used on him. Though he seems more in control of his temper than I am at times." Harry shrugged. "Of course, he has killed numerous times. So who knows for sure?" Again, he wasn't going to tell Snape everything. He would have to see if the man was true to his word.

"Harry, I am going to be honest with you. I will do this plan with you, but I want you to spend the summer at my Manor. Dumbledore doesn't know about it. He thinks I live in Spinner's End. I want to teach you control."

Harry looked at him, Severus felt like he was being judged after a few minutes went by Harry spoke, "sounds like a plan."

Chapter 2: Banking, He Thinks

Summary:

Off to the Bank, well at least that is what Severus thinks.

The next two days were very busy for Severus after he got back to Hogwarts and disposed of the golem, Dumbledore hadn't left him alone. He had tried numerous times to just shut down the labs and classrooms but the old goat kept giving him lists of things that needed to be done. Severus was just finished brewing the last potion that Poppy needed for one of the remaining injured student, who would be leaving today, when the old fool appeared in his floo, as he was getting ready to leave his quarters.

"Severus, my dear boy, if you are finished, I am wondering if you could come up to my office."

Severus glared at the man. "I am going up to drop this potion off for Poppy. I still have my private lab to close. I am not finished at all."

"Yes, dear boy, I understand and this won't take long." Dumbledore disappeared from the floo. Severus knew this was one of the many reasons he didn't like the man. He flat out refused to listen. He made his way to Poppy, giving her the potion.

As he turned to leave, he instead asked: "Poppy, may I asked something of you and you do not discuss it with the Headmaster?"

"Depends on the issue, I can't let him not know when someone is injured or in danger."

"It is nothing like that."

"I will try to provide an answer, and not inform Albus." Poppy indicated for him to follow her into her office. "He can't spy in here."

Severus nodded his head. "I am asking about Mr. Potter. Something was off with the boy during the year. He didn't look at all like how James looked in his first year."

"Something is very off with Mr. Potter. I wasn't allowed to do a full health scan on him. Albus refused to allow me to do one. The ones I could get done when he was injured showed a lot of issues. I know the issues listed confirmed that they were caused by abuse. I tried mentioning to him, but he flat out refused to listen to me, telling me how much the boy's relatives cared about him. When I mentioned how he ate at the beginning of the year, I got told "he isn't used to wizard's food", the boy could barely eat half a plate of food." She paused, reigning in her concern. "Something is very wrong Severus, very wrong. He doesn't think anyone is ever abused. If you promise me not to say a word I will let you in on a secret."

Severus looked surprised for a few seconds "I promise not to mention any information that I learn from Poppy Pomfrey this day, without her permission."

"Minerva and I have been keeping track over the years of the abused kids, when we can, we secret them away from their families and find new ones for them. We can't do it with Mr. Potter because Albus made it impossible to get the boy away. He is the boy's magical guardian, and those relatives of his, Minerva said they were the worst sort of Muggles. Minerva has been trying to get his trust, but he hasn't said a word to her all year."

Severus arched his brows. "I will help. If you need anything you let me know. This can't keep happening. Now I am going to ask you to make a Vow, it's regarding Mr. Potter."

"I, Poppy Pomfrey, hereby, vow not to mention any information I learn from Severus Snape regarding Harry Potter to anyone, unless I have their permission." Poppy stated and they watched the magic form.

"I have Mr. Potter safe, I got him away from his family. I am going to take him to Gringotts as soon as possible and have them do a full scan and purge if necessary. I will give you a copy to add to those records to be used against Albus."

"Their records are something that Albus can't claim any type of tampering with. Let me know what will be needed during the school year for Mr. Potter and I am sure between us, we can help him." Poppy said.

"Excellent. I need to go, he is running me ragged for some reason. He wants to see me in his office after this. What for I have no idea."

"Minerva doesn't believe me in this, but I know there is something off in how he is treating Mr. Potter. After his latest injuries, I couldn't get Albus to tell me the truth of what happened."

"You are right Poppy, there is something off. I wish I knew more but I don't." Severus said. "I better head up to his office before he comes looking for me."

Poppy watched Severus leave, thankful someone had taken care of Harry. She wasn't sure about telling Minerva that they were right. There were times the woman's memories were missing. She knew Minerva was getting subjected to Albus' brand of memory charms and didn't want to endanger Harry. No, she would keep it quiet.

Severus walked to the old goat's office, wondering when he would be able to escape. He was also worried about Harry being alone in his Manor, however, when he did check, he always found the boy reading books from his library. Usual there were a lot of parchment and books piled around him, as he studied whatever he had found interesting at that moment. Severus decided when he got back to his Manor, he was going to actually test the boy in everything to see where he stood and then teach him what he would need.

He knocked on the door to the Headmaster's office, heard the quiet "enter" and fortified himself for what was coming. "You wanted to see me, Albus?"

"Yes, lemon drop?" Dumbledore was behind his desk.

"No." Severus wondered how many years it would take of him saying no before he stopped being asked.

"My boy, the reason why I have asked you here is that I need some help. I am very worried about Mr. Potter. He hasn't adjusted as well as I would have liked to Hogwarts. He hasn't spoken a word to his own Head of House. After that business with Quirrell, I am afraid he will even be less likely to open up."

"What business with Quirrell?" This was interesting. He was wondering what the old goat was up to.

"It appears that Tom possessed the poor boy. Harry was able to banish him with the power of Lily's love. It was very powerful magic."

Severus knew what he was doing, he was using Lily to get him to bend to his will. He did notice the missing information. "This concerns me in what way?"

"I was hoping you could use this coming year to get close to him. Talk to him about Lily. Help him realize all of us at Hogwarts are trustworthy."

"I refuse to cater to the spoiled-rotten arrogant child of James Potter. He is a mini James, and you refuse to see it."

"Severus we need him, you know why. We must have the boy trust me. He refuses to talk to me or Minerva at all. Even after the Quirrell the boy barely said three words to me. I do hope his relatives are able to get him under control this summer."

"Under control?"

"Yes, the boy needs to be open, brave, and allow his true Gryffindor self out. We need him to fight Tom. I need him to be able to listen to me."

"Have you tried the honest approach with him?" Severus knew the old fool just thought of the boy as a weapon, his words were giving him away. He didn't care about Harry, he just wanted the Harry to fall into whatever line the old fool determined for him.

"I have. I told him why he needed to return to his relatives. He wanted to spend the summer with friends." Dumbledore stated. "The blood wards are an important form of protection for the boy. He had to return there."

"Protection for whom? The boy or his relatives?"

"Why both of course." Dumbledore answered.

Severus kept his mask in place. "Well, I am not going to be changing my attitude towards the brat. You have enough people catering to his whims, I am not doing it."

"Your Vow, Severus." Dumbledore tried.

"States I will protect the boy, and I will." I am protecting him from you, you daft old fool thought Severus. "Now I do have stuff I need to finish, I will see you at the end of August." Severus turned on his heel and left. He never heard what Dumbledore said exactly but he did catch the "maybe I need to use potions". Severus would have to get some items for Harry to protect him.

The next day he finally was able to leave Hogwarts. He apparated around Scotland and England before finally arriving home and made his way to his Manor. He found Harry in the library reading with a pile of books and parchment surrounding him.

"I am finally finished for the summer."

Harry glanced up from his books. "You look awful, what did that old coot have you do?"

"He didn't let anyone rest. Come and let's eat, and I will tell you about what happened." Severus informed him and together they headed to the kitchen. He made some sandwiches for them. After they settled he told Harry about his last few days and the comment. "I believe between our vaults, we should have some jewelry that will protect you from potions and spells he might try."

"I have been casting detection charms on all my food and drink. I am more worried about what test he might pull this year." Harry informed him.

"Test?" Severus asked.

"Yes, you really don't believe he didn't know Quirrell was possessed? We knew it and wondered why the old fool wasn't doing a thing about it. Now after the little event, he planned for the end of the year, I know it was to allow Quirrell to stay for a test. He wanted me to trust those idiots of his." Harry paused, "they always seemed to find clues in time, it was just too convenient, just enough to lead us someplace but not too much, so that Granger could look good. Also my Head of House, she is trying but he is doing something to her memories."

At that Severus remembered Poppy and told him about what was said. "I think you are right about her memories, Poppy mentioned it too. She also said that Minerva said she told Albus that your relatives were the "worse sort of Muggles". Poppy wants you to get scanned at Gringotts, she was stopped from doing it at Hogwarts."

"She did one, the old coot wiped her memory of it that night. I saw him. He also put some compulsion on her to keep her from doing another one."

Severus felt sick. Albus was allowing students to be abused, he had hoped Poppy was wrong but clearly, Albus was using students as his pawns. "I will let her know. Maybe she can get them purged."

Harry shrugged. "It won't make a difference he will do it again, if he feels like she might be slipping. I had to use a few memory charms on people that saw me watching the old coot." He ate some of his sandwich. "When do you want to go to Gringotts? You need to crash tonight, but either early tomorrow or late tomorrow night would be best. Not many people would be there."

"Tomorrow morning sounds good. What were you researching?"

"Various spells, their interactions, basic foundations and word origins. Also some potions and spell interactions combinations. It might be something useful later."

That surprised Severus, he wasn't expecting that. "I have to ask, your performance in my class?"

"Please, between Granger and her "no you want to do it this way" and Malfoy tossing things into my cauldron, you are lucky I didn't just take them out. Weasley almost got it a few times, he is utterly useless."

"Granger? She does her potions exact. They are almost perfect."

"That is it, she is exact, she doesn't bother to think about interactions, how to combat a slight mistake, she follow the instructions exactly. The few times she wasn't perfect was because she didn't catch your intentional mistakes on the board. She has too much trust in authority figures."

Severus leaned back in his chair and really looked at Harry for the first time. The boy just ignored his assessment of him and kept eating. "I want to test your skills, in everything."

"Fine with me, you might get hurt." Harry warned him.

"I don't think so." Severus snorted. This boy didn't have the skills to hurt him. He watched a slight shrug of Harry's shoulders. "We are also going to need to work on your emotional control. I don't want you to give yourself away."

Harry gave a slight chuckle. "You are too late for that. Almost gave myself away a few times. I had to Obliviate a few people on my way to see you. Your Slytherins may claim self-preservation but really most have no idea when to run. Malfoy is the biggest idiot in that regard. That boy gives blonds a very bad name."

Severus sighed as he knew his godson pushed Harry over the course of the year. He knew Draco went looking for the fights. "You usually avoided him, but Weasley didn't."

"Yes, moron number 1 is all about making sure everyone knows how he feels about Slytherins. Moron number 2 is too busy trying to show everyone how smart she is and trying to show she fits in, not realizing she is really making people hate her. She likes to hit too, that almost gave me away as I wanted to hex her when she hit me."

"I am not sure what to make of you." Severus finally answered.

"I would say what you see is what you get, but you have seen a few masks over the past year. I am sure you will see the real me this summer. It will be very freeing for me." Harry informed him. "While you crash and burn I am going to go back and research. I have a few ideas for some spells and want to see if I can get them to work before I go to bed. Oh, your dueling room, I had to add some wards and re-enforced some of the protection spells. So don't freak out when you enter it. Also, two of your dummies were destroyed, I couldn't repair them. If you will excuse me, I will see you in the morning." Harry got up from the table. He wasn't going to let the man know that the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters had been teaching him all year.

Severus watched him leave and process what the boy said. Did he say he destroyed two of his training dummies? They were Auror and Hit Wizard grade dummies, no one was able to destroy them, never mind an eleven-year-old child. His mind caught up fully with what the boy had said. He was creating spells and using them. He worked on his wards. He wondered exactly what he had gotten himself into. He cleaned up the kitchen and head up to bed, he needed to think on this and sleep. Tomorrow would bring more problems he just knew.

Severus found Harry already awake and he was making breakfast. "Just eggs, bacon, and some toast. There really isn't much else."

"That is fine." Severus started to make tea for them. "I was thinking last night, some of the things you mentioned, I want to see what you can do with those spells. I also want to have you get a full scan by one of the goblin's healers. I think we will need to have an inheritance test done and maybe a full purge. I am worried about a few things, you mentioned and the way Albus acted yesterday."

Harry looked at him. He plated the eggs and bacon and brought them over to the table. "If you think we need to do it, that is fine with me. I have no reason to hide anything from you. You saw my emotions the other night." Harry filled his plate with food and fixed his tea. "I also believe you should be tested."

"I agree with you. I am going to mention it to Poppy and have her work on getting Minerva done." Severus told him as he took some eggs and bacon. "We will go shopping afterward. There is a grocer in the village."

"I will need to get some books and potion ingredients in Diagon Alley and a shop in Knockturn Alley."

"Knockturn is dangerous."

Harry laughed. "You don't think I not?" At Severus' look, Harry continued "they are afraid of me after I gutted a vampire who thought I might make a good snack."

Those words scared Severus and he wondered again what he had gotten himself into. The boy gutted a vampire and he was only 11. The power he saw in the classroom was huge, he was almost as powerful or if not more powerful than the Dark Lord. He was thinking as they ate and worried about what he was going to do to help the boy and if he would be hurt by him.

"Severus, I do not plan on hurting you. The vampire was trying to make me a snack, and it taught the others to leave me alone." Harry informed him. "Now, let's head to the bank. We have a lot to do today." He didn't mention anything about the ones he had killed. He didn't want to scare the man any more than he already was. Severus needed time to realize the truth and accept it.

They entered the bank and it was quiet. The tellers were busy as they always were, but there weren't any other wizards around. Severus went up to the first teller, he bowed slightly. "May your gold flow, may the blood of your enemies flow and your family wealth multiply."

The teller returned the slight bow. "May your enemies fear your name. How can I help you today?"

"We need to see our account managers." Severus said.

"Yes, Mr. Potter and Mr. Snape, we have been waiting for you to come. It is good fortune you arrive together." A goblin from the left of Severus informed them. "I will take them, Hetko. If you would follow me, please."

Severus and Harry followed the goblin as he led them down a long Verde marble hall, through the pair of black walnut doors and into an office on the left. "Ironclaw will be right with you. I will go and get the healing and purge rooms ready for you." The goblin left. Harry looked at the goblin as it left. "Seer." Was the only remark Severus made as he sat down.

They waited only a few minutes before another goblin entered. "I am Ironclaw, I am the account manager of the Prince and Potter vaults, I have been trying to get in touch with each of you for years."

"I am sorry, but I was disinherited from the Prince family." Severus was wondering what was going on. Why hadn't he heard about this before now?

"I had no idea you were looking for me, I have been living mostly in the Muggle world until almost a year ago." He also had someone else do his banking for him.

"Well, let's get started. First, Mr. Snape, we informed Mr. Dumbledore of your grandfather's Will, he was here for the reading of it, with a letter stating he was going to be taking over." Ironclaw replied. "Second, he has sent several letters requesting funds and items from those vaults with your authorization. Third, you were never disinherited, neither was your mother. Your Grandfather paid for your schooling, books, and apprenticeship."

Severus was in shock for a few minutes. "I had no idea, neither did my mother. She believed she was paying for my schooling. If you look into her accounts I am sure you will see the funds being transferred. I never knew of any of this, including authorizing anyone to remove anything."

"Give me a few minutes while I check." Ironclaw stated. Severus and Harry watched Ironclaw summon folders, ledgers, records and he went through them. He was getting angrier as he read through them. "Mr. Snape, yes, your mother did pay for everything, so did your Grandfather, but in looking into where your Grandfather's funds were sent, they were directly deposited into the Mr. Dumbledore's account."

"Is there any way I can get those funds and items back?" Severus asked. He wondered what else Dumbledore did in regards to his family. The man must have been the reason his mother was told she was disowned.

"Yes, I will do a recall, all the items will be returned to the correct vault. If damaged or lost, Mr. Dumbledore will be, of course, charged for the replacement of the item. All monies will be returned with interest. All the proxy seats will be reset." Ironclaw looked at the small folder next to him. "Do you wish to hear the Will?"

"May I just take a copy with me?"

"Yes, now given Mr. Dumbledore's power in Wizengamot, it will be hard to press charges on him. However, we can hold this information and help build a case if you so desire."

"Yes, very much." He wanted to kill the old fool. He spent years wondering about his family, and Dumbledore had taken the chance to know his Grandfather away from him.

"Now let's do the Inheritance Test, there will be no fee." Ironclaw stated as he pulled out the required parchment. He now knew why the Seer wanted him to handle this. He was going to have to go to the King and explain what happened. He wasn't looking forward to doing the Potter account either. He had a very bad feeling about it.

Severus and Harry dropped three drops of blood onto a piece of parchment.

Severus Tobias Snape

Father: Tobias Eliot Snape  
Mother: Eileen Alice Snape nee Prince

Title:

Prince  
Ravenclaw

Properties:

Spinner's End  
Snape Corner  
Prince Manor  
Prince Hall  
Ravenclaw Manor  
Ravenclaw Castle  
Hogwarts 1/4

Compulsion: Hate all Potters, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin  
Compulsion: Obey Dumbledore, key word Lily  
Compulsion: Mean to children  
Block: 20% core -Albus Dumbledore  
Block: Animagi transformation - Albus Dumbledore  
Leach: 35% -Albus Dumbledore

Vaults  
4  
145  
263  
593  
864  
935

"I am going to kill the man." Severus never thought that Dumbledore would do something like this. He was going to make sure the man experienced some interesting potions.

"I am sure there is a line forming for that honor. We can't do anything about him now." Harry told him. "Ironclaw, all this can be fixed, correct?"

"Yes, that is why the purge room has been made ready. Also, we have your parent's Wills, they have been sealed, but we can open them if you wish."

"Well, let's get this over with and look at mine. Yes, I want to know what they said."

Harrison James Black Potter

Father: Regulus Black  
Mother: Lucretia Black

blood adoption:  
Father: James Charles Potter  
Mother: Lily Rose Potter nee Evans  
Godfather: Sirius Orion Black

Title:  
Potter  
Gryffindor  
Slytherin-conquest  
Hufflepuff  
Black  
Gaunt-conquest  
Peverell-second son Cadmus-open  
Ambrosius (Welsh: Emrys)  
LeFay  
Tudor  
Windsor

Properties:

See individual folders

Compulsion: Hate Slytherins  
Compulsion: Hate Severus Snape  
Compulsion: Slack off on school work  
Compulsion: Obey Albus Dumbledore (key word parents)  
Compulsion: Obey Hermione Granger (key word Headmaster)  
Compulsion: Obey Ronald Weasley (key word chess)  
Block: 60% core - Albus Dumbledore  
Block: Animagi transformation 100% Albus Dumbledore  
Metamorphmagi 100% Albus Dumbledore  
Legilimency and Occlumency 80% Albus Dumbledore  
Magical resistance 78% Albus Dumbledore

Vaults;

See individual folders

All three of them looked shocked. "Why are there so many blocks placed on me?" Harry finally recovered.

Ironclaw and Severus looked at him, finally, Severus said "all I can think of is, he doesn't want you to be more powerful than him, and you can't learn information, or even use your skills, you would go to him for help and rely on him. He was worried about you not talking to Minerva or being open with him when he talked to you. He might see this as a way to control you."

"Can this be fixed?"

"Yes, also according to our Seer, your glamours will be coming off. You will look as you should. Also, we will be able to fix the issues from the abuse you have experienced. The Seer has a healer by the purge room, to talk to you after the purging."

Severus exchanged a look with Harry. "Let's get this over with and go from there. I think we are kind of in shock."

"It doesn't get better. Mr. Potter's vaults have the same history of theft, however, it also shows monies going to a Miss Hermione Granger, the Weasley family vault, Ronald, Ginerva and Molly Weasley having their own funds going into separate vaults, and Mr. Dumbledore. Mr. Potter, have you ever authorized anyone?" Ironclaw knew this was going to be a start to removing Dumbledore if the feel of those in front of him was correct. He would be speaking to the King about aiding them.

"No, Sir. I don't even know who Ginerva or Molly Weasley are. However, I am worried about these funds being returned to our accounts and Dumbledore finding out we know."

"I believe, we will be using the robbery from last year as a way to explain an audit of all accounts. I know the King will be insisting on it after this. So there won't be any worries about him believing you had anything to do with it. It will also take care of the proxies. He won't be able to get them back unless we hear directly from either of you and not in just in writing." Ironclaw said.

"Could you find a way to open sealed Wills, not just mine? We don't want him to suspect." Harry asked.

"Yes, we can. There are a lot of Wills laying around unopened. A cleaning of them will do the trick." Ironclaw began to plan on which Wills to open first, and how to phrase it in a press release.

"What if Dumbledore tries to get control over Mr. Potter's vaults?"

"That won't be possible, as the last in the line of several of his title. Lord Potter is actually free of needing a magical guardian. He still has listed his Muggle ones as legal guardians, but that won't matter anymore, as there won't be a need for them or a need for a magical one since he will be declared a Lord, many times over."

"May we keep that quiet? We don't have to let him know right?"

"We can. We will make sure the return of the monies, items, and proxy seats will all be done because of a bank audit." Ironclaw informed them. He paused and looked at Harry. "Do you wish to hear the Wills now or do you wish to have them read after the purge?"

"What are we going to do about the fact that all four of his parents are dead, and his godfather is in Azkaban?"

"The Wills should be able to set some insight on who should have had custody of Lord Potter should it be needed."

"Let's do the purge, give us time to process all this information and after that, we can decide on what to do with the Wills." Harry told Severus.

Severus agreed. They needed some time to process all of the things they just learned. He knew he was feeling that he wanted to kill Dumbledore, but also feeling the joy that his Grandfather didn't abandon him and his mother. That he actually cared. Yes, they needed time to get their emotions together.

Chapter 3: Severus Meets the Real Harry Potter

Summary:

Bank and a world full of surprises for them.

Severus was standing outside of one of the healing rooms, watching Harry go through his purge. Severus' purge was over in an hour, Harry was working on going on three hours and looked like it might be longer judging by the way the Goblins were moving around in the room as some were chanting. He glanced over to one of the Goblins. "Is it normal for this to take so long?"

"No, but Lord Potter had a lot of powerful blocks on him. Also, the damage done to him by abuse is very extensive. If we hadn't fixed it, he might have died within a few years from it alone."

When he said that Severus realized Albus knew that and was counting on Harry dying, why else wouldn't he allow the boy to be healed? Why would he block Poppy from knowing about it? Yes, the man wanted the boy to die, but when he wanted him to, in a confrontation with the Dark Lord. He wanted the boy weak so that the Dark Lord could kill him, and then Albus would kill the Dark Lord.

Severus was feeling more and more disgusted by Albus Dumbledore. He thought the Dark Lord was bad, but at least with the Dark Lord you knew where you stood, he was honest about his dealings. He didn't lie to you to get you to do his deeds. One of the goblins left the purging chamber and spoke to one of the healers. The healer came over to Severus. The goblins began to remove furniture from the purging room and adding warding stones.

"Excuse me, Healer Reka, but why are there warding stones being added into the room?" Severus asked.

"Due to the magic that is being set free, we need the stones to keep it from collapsing the building. Lord Potter had a lot of his magic blocked, when it becomes free, he will need some time to gain control of it. We added the warding stones as a way of protecting us." Healer Reka stated.

"He isn't in any danger is he?" Severus asked.

"No, he will need some help in the upcoming weeks to regain control of his magic. He said you were going to help him in learning to control his magic?"

"Yes, we talked about it before we came here. I wasn't expecting so much of his magic to be blocked."

"Well, a lot of his available magic was healing his body or trying to, now without that aspect, he will be needing your help in keeping him grounded until he gets control back." Healer Reka stated. "We will be giving him a few focusing stones to carry with him, that will help the overflow of his magic until he can gain full control." They felt the walls shake as Harry's magic was finally free.

"Thank you. I am going to be looking into our vaults for protection items, will that interfere with anything?" Severus was trying to cover his surprise at the force of Harry's magic. He realized the boy was a lot more powerful than Dumbledore believed.

"No, if you have anything as a focusing object it will help him."

"Thank you, I will look for one."

"He will be another hour or so, do you wish to sit with him?" Reka asked.

"I didn't think it was allowed."

"He is done, right now we are just giving him time to adjust, so you can be in there. The magic will feel very oppressive at first." She warned him, as she opened the door and allowed Severus to enter.

Harry looked up at Severus. "So how strange do I look now?"

"You don't look exactly like James anymore, you look more like Reggie. There is very little of the Potter's in you, except for Lily's eyes. That is weird. The hair coloring won't matter as the Blacks and Potter had the dark hair, it just looks more manageable now."

"How are we going to cover that up?"

"We won't. Most people really won't notice a difference. If he asks anything about it, just use your birthday, say you had a lot of pain and you woke up this way."

"Do we even know if it's really my birthday?"

"We can find out from Ironclaw. I am sure you will need to be retested since everything is cleaned out of you now." Severus stated. "You basically still look like Harry Potter without the glasses and no bird's nest for hair."

Harry nodded. "Severus, this is more than just making him pay. I want to ruin the man, leave him with nothing left."

Severus looked at Harry and realized this boy could do it. "I know, and I will help."

An hour later they were back in Ironclaw's office. "Now, nothing has really changed, except we now know who you really are, being blood adopted into the family of the Potter's really only gave you the Potter line, the rest is all the Black family line and your conquest over Tom Riddle." He paused and glanced at Harry. "The Wills, if you want, we can unseal them."

"Will it make much of a difference?" Harry asked. "We know Dumbledore is going to make sure I go where he thinks I should go, if we open the Wills, what can I do to stop him from putting me some where else for my own safety? You know that is exactly what he will do, no one really has the power to stop him."

Severus thought for a few minutes and looked at Ironclaw. "If we open the Wills, and I take up my Lordships, with Harry's Lordships, and I am named in the Wills can we stop him from taking Harry?"

Ironclaw smirked. "Yes, because with your Lordships, you can take Lord Potter's proxies and that will give you the majority of seats in the Wizengamot. Right now, Dumbledore has been using both of your seats, that he knows about. We have revoked them already, stating an audit. We can use the vast number of unopened Wills as a reason to open the Potters'. In the reading of them, we can schedule a later date for the formal reading of the Wills, if there are others named in it."

"What if the others named in them are the ones who have been stealing from my vaults?"

"I am sure we can lose their official invitation to the reading." Ironclaw stated.

"Let's open them."

Ironclaw produced James' Will. "We will do his first as he died first."

"I, James Charles Potter, kicked the bucket. I hope I died having some fun. I was going to make a huge long list of people to leave stuff to, but I decided against it. So here goes:

Remus Lupin, if you aren't the traitor or if you haven't done anything wrong to my family, I leave you 20,000 Galleons and the Lake House, you know the one.

Sirius Black, I leave you our trunk of pranks and ideas. Have fun, my friend. Thank you for not being the secret keeper.

Peter Pettigrew: if we are dead, it's because of him. He was the secret keeper and Albus Dumbledore was the caster of the spell.

To my son Harry Potter, I know you aren't my son biologically, Dumbledore brought you to us when you were barely a day old, your parents he said were killed. Harry, don't trust Dumbledore, I knew as soon as I saw you, you were Reggie and Lucy's child. They were killed, but not by the Dark Lord as people want to believe, but by Dumbledore. He covered it up well, but you see, Sirius and I saw him at their house. We left before anyone saw us, we didn't know he was going to kill them. Honest, we didn't, Sirius almost broke down when he saw you in my arms. We knew what the old coot had done. Harry, go to Severus Snape if Dumbledore has ignored our Wills. He might not want to help you, after what we had done to him, but he will help you if he knows the truth, Harry. Show him this if you have to.

Severus Snape, I leave you 25,000 Galleon, the store located at 45 Diagon Alley, and if Harry has given you this Will, you will know where to find our map, we left it in the secret place.

Custody of Harry:

Severus Snape

Signing off, James Charles Potter

Severus and Harry looked at each other in shock. "He left me Galleons, a store, and custody of you."

"Yes, and it's perfect."

"What?"

"Ironclaw who is using store right now?" Harry asked.

Ironclaw went looking through the papers and found it. "It is being rented out to Madam Caffey Tea Shop with the funds going into Mr. Dumbledore's account."

Harry let out a growl. "Can we get that money back? What about the lease?"

"I am already doing a refund on the rental money, as for the lease, it can be voided as it is an illegal leasing agreement."

"No, let it stay, I have an idea, Harry." Severus stated. "Ironclaw, are there any other stores that Harry now owns?"

"Yes, he owns most of Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, and Hogsmeade."

"I can't run a store and teach at Hogwarts, however, if we run a mail order business, set up a Goblin mailbox for the orders to be shipped to and from, we can use that 25,000 as a startup. I want to keep it low key, but do business with our people. I will use the name Tobias Evans if anyone wants to know, but otherwise, it will anonymously." He had no idea the boy owned all that.

Harry smirked. "I know just were to help get us started on the mail order part. I will show you later. Let's get this over with, let's hear Lily's."

Ironclaw pulled it out and began:

"I, Lillian Ann Potter, nee Evan, leave everything to my son Harry. I am sure James told you the facts, so I won't go over them but know that we did everything we could to try and protect you. The one thing James didn't mention I bet is your birthday. Your birthday is actually the first of August, 1980, you were born at the Black House, after midnight.

Reggie and Lucy were so happy because they knew it wouldn't be you that the stupid prophecy Albus believes in so much. We all know and worry about that prophecy. It was in a pub with no wards or anything? Makes us all wonder exactly what Albus is doing. He is almost forcing the prophecy to happen. He kept insisting you were born on July 31. We were with Reggie and Lucy when you were born, you weren't born on July 31, and you were born at 12:17 AM on Aug. 1. He doesn't know that because you see, Reggie is with the Dark Lord and we weren't to be friends with him and Lucy but they are Sirius' family and Sirius is our family.

Harry, stay away from Albus Dumbledore, something is very off with him. No one will believe us, but we know the truth. I just wish we had a chance to talk to the Dark Lord. Harry, Albus made him the way he is, you can fix him. Do it, Harry, fix him. Severus should be right next to you hearing this, he will be a great help to you. Trust Severus.

Severus, I forgave you a long time ago. I am trusting Harry to you. So is James, we all know you are the best bet for Harry to be protected from Dumbledore.

Severus, enjoy the mail-order business, it will make you happy while you work on the plans to destroy Albus with well, I am not going to tell you that part, that part will come in the future and you will have to work that out yourselves.

I love you both.

Custody of Harry Potter:  
Severus Snape

Signing off, Lily Potter

Severus had tears in his eyes, Lily had forgiven him, he felt a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders. He began to process everything he learned from James and Lily. It was overwhelming.

"So now we fix the Dark Lord." Harry smirked at Severus. "We keep playing the old fool's game until we do, with the mail order on the side, plus my other business ventures. If we take the seats, he will fight it. We best leave the seats as they are."

Ironclaw grinned. "Since Lady Potter's died last, her Will takes precedent over Lord Potter. We will make a new vault for the new business. I do believe it will be quite profitable. As your other ones have been."

An evil grin spread across Harry's face. "Yes, they have been. I do believe Severus is going to be enjoying them also." Severus looked puzzled. "We have some shopping to do, but I am thinking a nap will work before we go shopping.

Severus looked at Harry. "I really didn't think the bank would take as long as it has. I wasn't expecting things to be this bad. Ironclaw, you really sure we can keep this all from Dumbledore?"

"Yes, everything will be under the audit. We will keep the seats, as they are for now. No sense in letting the man became aware of everything. The King has decreed no one is to tell Dumbledore anything regarding this business. Even the human employees are forbidden from speaking of it."

Chapter 4: Harry Educates Severus

Summary:

Severus learns more than he thinks he wants to know.

As they were leaving the Bank, Harry nudged Severus, and tilted his head towards the right. Severus immediately saw what Harry was pointing out. To the right of them were the Weasley family, their backs were towards Harry and Severus. He looked back at Harry and noticed that Harry had glamours on him that made him look like he was related to Severus. Harry just quirked his eyebrows and gave a half smile to Severus. "Have fun."

Severus inwardly grinned. "Come on, Stephen, don't lag, we haven't got all day." He said it slightly louder than he would normally speak, and all of the Weasley family turned and looked at him.

"Severus, my dear, how nice to see you today." Molly grinned at him, her eyes flickering to Harry. Harry noticed all of the Weasleys' were watching him. He just mimicked Severus and kept his face blank and uninterested in them.

"Yes, I am sure." Severus went to walk but was Molly moved in front of him. This wasn't easy considering all the Weasleys were surrounding them basically.

"I must say, Severus, your young friend looks a lot like you." Arthur thought Dumbledore would be interested in this, and he looked at Molly, they exchanged the knowing look of "let's get more information".

"Of course he does, why wouldn't he?" Severus asked. "Steffan and I have things we need to get done. We need to get some shopping done and head home, been a long morning already."

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Molly bluntly asked, she never bothered with manners if she could get an answer faster without.

"To all of you?" Severus asked as if it was a huge chore. He could almost feel Harry's amusement. "Semptus Prince this is the Weasley family. Weasley family this is Scott Snape. Now we really must be off." Severus moved them passed the Weasley family and they ignored the comments about seeing them later and an invitation to dinner next week at the Burrow.

"Wonder how quick that will get back to the old goat, you could have dragged it out and used a few more names. That would have really confused them."

"I was thinking of that, but really I can't stand that family, and knowing what I know now, I really didn't want to push my temper."

Harry nodded his head in understanding. "We can either go back home for a quick nap or we can continue on. What do you prefer? I should tell you, we will need to go to Knockturn first. I think you will like it."

"Let's get the shopping and stuff done. I bet the Weasleys will tail us for a bit."

"Don't worry, we will lose them while in Diagon Alley, don't want them running to the old fart and tell him you were in Knockturn."

"He knows I go there for potion ingredients at times, but you are correct I don't want him to know about this." Severus informed him.

They headed through Diagon Alley, and Severus and Harry noticed the Weasley family following them. Harry dragged Severus into several stores, and out the back doors, reappearing in front of another and repeated the process a few times, making the Weasley family confused as to where they were exactly. Finally, Harry guided them into Knockturn. Harry quickly and effortlessly going down the different alleys, he noticed people waving and smiling at Harry. All of them seemed to like Harry. Harry led them to a small little storefront. The store was called "Quirks and Arrows".

When they entered Severus noticed all manner of items were sold here, from quills to potion ingredients. Harry nodded to the person at the counter and walked to the back wall, knocked three times, moved his hand up to the left of the hinge and tapped the hinge five times, the wall opened up. Harry entered, followed by Severus.

"Welcome Severus to my little businesses on the side. The store is mine also, but here is where I do a lot of other things." Harry informed him.

Severus looked around and immediately recognized several Death Eaters. "Harry, I am not exactly welcomed among Death Eaters, many think I am Dumbledore's spy."

"Don't worry." Harry walked over to a desk in a corner that Severus had missed in his glance around the back room of the store. "Let's have a little chat with everyone shall we?" Severus was confused but didn't say a word.

Harry smirked at him, picked up some papers, and walked to the oblong black walnut table in the middle of the room with several matching chairs at it. Harry sat at the head and pointed to the left for Severus to sit down at. Soon the table was full of people. "I am assuming everyone knows everyone?"

"Yes." Everyone answered but the confusion could be heard in a few voices. Severus wondered what Harry was going to do exactly to smooth things over with the rest of them.

"Good, now you may be wondering why Severus Snape is sitting here, well he is the one who has been helping me escape from Dumbledore. He got me away from those muggles." At the word muggles Severus could hear a few mumbles. "Yes, don't worry they will be paying for what they have done. Now, business. Rookwood, Ministry?"

"Master, Fudge is still listening to Malfoy, despite all attempts from Dumbledore. There are a few key projects in the works in my department. I put the specs on your desk. There might be something useful for us if we go to battle. They are working currently on seeing if they can find a way to see the Dark Mark on people. I have stopped the research with a few runes added to the device they tried to use. They have tried wards, but they have gone off on people just having simple tattoos, not even magical ones, they finally scrapped it. Fudge also wants to go tougher on creatures. Dumbledore is agreeing with him on that, why I have no idea."

"That won't be an issue. Lucius?"

"Yes Master?"

Severus almost fell over, he wasn't expecting Lucius to be here, and he was, he glanced back behind him and realized Lucius had just arrived.

"After a visit to the bank, we learned some interesting information. We will talk privately about it." Lucius handled all of their banking.

"Yes, Master." Lucius took the empty seat next to him. Lucius tilted his head in greeting to Severus, who returned it.

"Dolohov, Yaxley, and Rowle, I want you three to get started on figuring out where the Dark Lord is now that he is back to being a wraith, thanks to that old goat. If you find Nagini, let me know. She may be able to help us. Tracking charms might work but focus mainly on summoning ones with a tracking element in it if possible."

"Yes, Master, I think I might have a few ideas." Rowle told him. Rowle began to make notes on some parchment in front of him.

"Great. Now onto our regular business. Our storefronts are up by 30%, now that Severus is with us, use him for potions and you will be paying him for the ingredients and his time. We will be starting a mail order business. Severus will be doing it, recommend him, but do not use his name. NO ONE is to use his name. If a name has to be given, use Tobias Evans, remember that. Send the orders to Gringotts. They will also provide the owls delivering the products so do not worry about what type it is." Harry paused "I want to know why the vampires are behind in their payment?"

"It is because they don't think you will do anything else to them, Master. Some new vampire came in last month, he laid claim to them, said he wasn't going to be paying anything to you and that his bar was free of you." Alecto Carrow told him.

"I own that building. I guess I will be paying them a visit after I leave here. I will be doubling their rent for the annoyance factor alone. I will also be making sure they pay for any damages caused to the building from my visit." Harry informed them. Severus saw Avery making notes.

Severus noticed several of the Death Eaters, including Lucius, flinched at that. He wondered exactly what Harry had done to get control of the Death Eaters, he had never seen them flinch with the Dark Lord, but then again the Dark Lord would punish you if you made him notice you.

"Lucius, that diary, I want you to manage to drop it into Ginny Weasley's cauldron when they go book shopping for the new school year. That is going to be my little test this year, the old goat just doesn't know it as of yet."

"Yes, Master." Lucius looked unsure of what to say next. Severus watched him swallow and open his mouth and close it again and finally opened it and said: "my Lord gave me that to protect, I am not sure this is a good idea." He noticed Lucius didn't want to say anything.

"Do you honestly think I would endanger something of his without his knowing? Do you think I would make a move like that without his knowledge?" Severus noticed Harry never mentioned permission in those questions.

Lucius paled. "I am sorry, Master, I just wasn't sure if you knew he had given me those instructions."

Harry glared at Lucius and Severus understood somewhat why they were afraid of him, his glare was worse than Severus'. "We talked about it, he is aware of it and we made this plan before that old meddlesome troublemaker ruined our plans for the summer. Do you have any more questions, Lucius? Do I need to explain myself to you?" The dare was clearly there.

Lucius quickly responded: "no Master, I am sorry, I didn't think ahead of time."

"Be grateful it's me that you asked instead of him." Harry informed him. "Also, I am in a good mood."

Lucius nodded his head in acceptance. Severus was sure Lucius was more afraid of Harry than of their Lord but he wasn't going to say anything, Harry had been surprising him since he stormed into his office.

"Any other business before I have to leave and take care of the vampires?" No one answered.

Severus saw Macnair, and the Carrow twins exchange glances and Amycus Carrow asked: "can we go and at least watch?"

Harry looked at them, shrugged his shoulders. "If you want, I really don't care. Just don't complain about the blood."

"We won't, Master." All three of them, beamed in excitement. Severus knew they wouldn't complain about the blood if anything they would want to add to it.

Harry stood up and walked over to Lucius. "Tonight, come to Severus' home and we will talk."

"Yes, Master." Lucius looked at Severus. "Spinner's End?"

Severus nodded his head in agreement. "Yes. 8 PM."

"Yes, Master." Lucius replied, Severus could see the relief in Lucius' body, he glanced around and noticed all of them had a deep respect for Harry, there wasn't any of the fear and weariness he normally associated with Death Eaters.

"I expect everyone's weekly report done and I will review them later. I also expect an update on any projects to be included. All the rumors and anything else at the bottom as usual. Have a good day." Harry waved his hand, dismissing them. He walked to his desk and began to gather up parchments and scrolls. Severus noticed he also was gathering accounting books.

Severus was again, surprised, that was the quickest meeting he had ever attended. He looked at Lucius. "He usually just wants the important stuff mentioned, everything else he prefers to read. He doesn't believe in wasting time sitting around listening to rumors and stuff. He also doesn't punish us like our Lord does; unless we do something extremely stupid then it's actually worse than our Lord ever did."

"When did he take over?" Severus asked.

"Last year, the Dark Lord brought him to a meeting, and it went from there. They arranged this storefront and back room. Quirrell, whom the Dark Lord was using, helped set up a lot of our legal enterprises using Harry's ideas. Harry now owns most of Diagon Alley, Knockturn, and Hogsmeade. The Dark Lord bought the magical markets in Ireland, most of the stores in Ireland. Between the two of them, they own almost all of the United Kingdom's magical stores, land, and resources."

Severus already knew Harry owned all that land. He was impressed the dark owned most of the businesses and resource since that meant that they control the trade. He waited for Lucius to continue. "Severus, he is in charge. The Dark Lord listened to him, actually, I think the Dark Lord is afraid of him like we are. The boy is powerful, smart, and knows how to use his power. He has a temper on him and is stubborn."

"I think I am in shock. He isn't even 12 yet. He has done nothing but has given me surprise after surprise, and you know how hard that is to do." Severus had seen Harry do some really amazing magic, stuff that even most adults couldn't do.

"I know. I am sure he will tell me tonight what he is expecting of me." Lucius knew whatever it was, it would aid their side if there was a future war between them and Dumbledore.

"I am sure. I am not sure about what he is going to do next. Can he really handle the vampires?"

Lucius gave him a smirk, let out a small laugh. "Yes, he can, and that vampire is going to regret coming to England."

"Severus, let's go. I want to deal with this vampire then shopping." Harry informed him. "I do hope he isn't a bleeder." Harry muttered the last part, but Severus heard him. He wasn't sure why he was just following along but he was. Something told him to obey Harry, he wasn't sure why but he was going to, even if technically Severus was now his guardian.

Harry, Severus, Macnair, with the Carrow twins, headed to the vampire bar. It was called "A Small Sip". Severus almost laughed at the name. Harry glanced at the door and inhaled. "Well, let's get this over with." They entered the bar.

As soon as they did a lot of vampires backed away. One vampire tilted his head, stood up, and looked at the others. "So you are the one they are afraid of." He walked up to Severus as he spoke, staring at him as he finished speaking.

Severus noticed the vampire was tall. He was taller than him by a good 3 or 4 inches making him almost 6 foot 5 or so. He had dark black hair, pulled back into a ponytail, and deep blue eyes. His skin was deathly pale and he looked like he worked out regularly. "Not me." Severus said, "him." He pointed at Harry.

The vampire looked down at Harry and laughed. Harry sighed. "So you are the idiot who thinks he doesn't have to pay his rent on my building."

"Are you calling me an idiot?" The vampire asked.

"Are you deaf? I believe I just did." Harry without waiting for an answer, waved his hand and the vampire went flying across the room and through the wall. Harry slowly walked over to the now prone vampire, as the others scattered. Harry looked down, at the prone vampire. "So are you going to pay the rent or do we need to keep on with the lesson? Personally, I don't care if I have to kill you or not, but I don't need the Aurors coming and asking questions. Oh silly me, they won't come to this part of town." Harry picked up the crawling vampire and threw him across the room again. This time he impaled him on one of the coat racks. The wood missed the vampire's heart. "Oops, I missed. I really need to work on my aim." Harry again walked slowly over to him as the vampire was struggling to get off of the coat rack. "I must say you are a quiet one. I wonder what it will take to make you scream."

Severus now knew Harry was much more powerful than he thought and was glad he hadn't dueled him at home yet, as he would have severely underestimated the boy and would have been hurt in doing so. He watched as Harry pulled the vampire off of the coat rack and slammed him down on the floor, everyone heard the board of the floor giving out. Harry waved his hand over the vampire and the vampire's chest and stomach sliced opened. "I wonder how long you can live after I remove your heart?" Harry raised his hand to remove the heart.

"Please, no. Don't." Another vampire moved over to Harry.

"He challenged me, you know what that means Cristo." Harry looked at the begging vampire.

"I know, but please." Cristo had warned the other about this boy, he didn't want another friend to die.

"We will make a deal." Another one said, a voice from the table in the corner.

"You are?" Harry didn't move off of the vampire but lowered his arm.

"The one you were actually looking for. My name is Vlad, named after Vlad the Impaler."

"Are you issuing another challenge or is this done and we settle?" Harry stood up, the prone vampire didn't move, and Cristo moved slightly closer to his friend.

"It's done, and I will settle." Vlad looked at his prone bodyguard.

Harry waved his hand and the vampire on the floor was healed. "He will need some blood but otherwise, he is fine."

Vlad and Cristo looked shocked by that, the others in the room, backed a bit further away from Harry. Everyone had expected that their friend would need a lot more repairing. "Thank you." Cristo stated.

Harry nodded his head. "So we deal?"

"Yes, we deal." Vlad led Harry over to a table and they sat down. Severus stood behind him, while the others spread out. "I must ask why did you bring reinforcements if you could do that."

"They aren't reinforcements. One is here because we are going shopping after, the others just wanted to watch." Harry didn't indicate who fell into what category.

Vlad nodded his head. "I will pay the rent, also the expenses of fixing this place, I will also include a generous bonus for not killing my friend."

"The rent is doubled, you will also provide me with 10 elite warrior vampires, when I ask, it will be in the future, I might not need them, but if I do, you will provide them."

"I will do that, and I will also provide you now with a Dhampir as your slave."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that. "I really don't need a slave."

"I can see that, but the Dhampir in question will be killed if someone doesn't take him. He isn't a bad slave. Actually, I think he is already scared, aren't you Marco?"

"Yes, Sire." Marco knelt quickly next to Vlad, "please."

"You know you can't stay. If Vera sees you again, she will kill you." Vlad really didn't want anyone to die.

"So you want to pass on your problem to me?" Harry didn't want or need a slave, and certainly didn't want any problems.

"Actually, he isn't a problem, Vera wants him as a bed slave, he, however, isn't interested in women, you see the problem?"

"I see the problem, but I will not take him. I know of someone I believe will enjoy him, and Marco will enjoy him." Harry glanced towards Marco, looking closely at him.

"May I ask who this person is?"

"Yes, Thorfinn Rowle, their auras, and magic match." Harry also knew that out of all of them, Rowle would make sure Marco was trained in the ways of being a Death Eater.

"So you realize our little Marco is a wizard." Vlad smiled.

Harry laughed. "I realized a lot of things, like the fact that it was you who was really in charge, your armband on the left arm with the Draconis signet gave it away. Also, the one on the floor, while big, had the tattoo of the Tepes clan, from which the Draconis clan owns. Therefore, it didn't take much to know who was really in charge."

Vlad leaned back in his chair. "I see why Cristo was insistent that we didn't get you angry with us."

"You haven't yet. Slightly annoyed because I had other things I needed to do today, but trust me, if I was angry you would know it."

Cristo looked at Vlad. "I believe that is why those others came to watch, last time, he was angry and killed over ten of us in less than three minutes. I warned you, he wasn't someone to mess around with even though he is a wizard."

"Yes, and I should have heeded your warning." Vlad was patting Cristo's hand.

"Warren, go and get Rowle."

"Yes, Master." Macnair left the bar.

"You do not simply summon them like the Dark Lord does?" Vlad knew of the Death Eaters and their mark. This boy, however, was different. He was dark, very dark, but clearly had a sense of honor, yet was also willing to kill.

"I could but I like to only do that in emergencies. It makes them realize they had better appear fast if you don't abuse the system."

"May I ask how old you are? You have a lot of power, knowledge, and wisdom for one who appears so young." Vlad wondered if the boy had a bit of vampirism in him. It would explain a few things. He might have inherited an old soul for example.

"I will be 12 on Aug 1." Harry informed him. Everyone was quiet after that waiting for Rowle and Macnair to appear. Rowle arrived and quickly went to Harry.

"Master?" Rowle wondered why he was here. He wasn't into seeing blood, not that there appeared to be any in the bar. Macnair wouldn't tell him a thing.

"Thorn, meet Marco, he is now yours. He is a Dhampir. You will treat him well. I think, however, you will find you two will get along well."

"Yes, Master. Thank you." Rowle wasn't an idiot, he knew why Harry wanted him to have the boy. He could protect the boy, and at the same time teach him. The boy was clearly a wizard. He saw Marco look at Vlad as if he was trying to get him to change his mind, but realized it was a done deal.

"I will have a house elf get your things, Marco." Rowle looked closely at Marco as he rose. He was shorter than himself, he guessed about 5 foot 8 or so, with dirty blond hair that covered most of his face as his head was bowed. He did catch a glimmer of his eyes and they looked to be a soft brown. He looked to be about seventeen.

"Yes, Master." Marco quietly spoke, his head bowed.

"No, please call me Thor, its short for Thorfinn. I don't need a slave."

Marco looked up, he wasn't expecting that. He glanced at Harry to Vlad and back to Rowle. "I am not sure what you expect of me."

"Not much, I am sure we can work it out. My Master, I am assuming wants me to train you to use your magic?"

"Yes, Thorn I do. He needs training in all areas of magic." Harry instructed him.

"Yes, Master. It will be done." Rowle smiled at Marco, trying to let him know it was going to be fine.

"Marco, trust Thorn, he will teach you, but won't hurt you." Harry told him. "Why don't you take him home?"

Rowle nodded his agreement and took hold of Marco's arm and apparated from the bar. "So mote it be."

"So mote it be." Vlad replied sealing their deal, he was happy his friend was now safe, and no one was killed by the young wizard.

"Severus I do believe we have time to finish our shopping. If the rest of you want to stay and drink, have fun, just don't get into any trouble." Harry stood up and looked at Vlad. "I do believe dinner next week would be great."

"How did you know?" Vlad asked.

Harry just smiled and walked away with a very confused Severus next to him. They went around Alleys gathering books, clothes, and potion ingredients before they headed home. "I am exhausted. We have four hours before we have to meet with Lucius, I don't know about you but I am going to go and take a nap." Harry informed Severus.

"I agree." Severus told him. He knew he might not sleep as he had a lot of thinking to do. Harry had been someone he hadn't expected to see in his life. He was legally the guardian of Harry but he felt like Harry was in charge and not him. Yes, he needed to think.

"Severus, relax, it will all work out. You will see." Harry told him as he exited the room and went to his bedroom.

"How does he do that?" Severus asked himself and gave up trying to answer that question as he went to his own room to lay down and take a nap.

Chapter 5: Lucius' Visit and Summer Fun

Harry and Severus were sitting in the library at Spinner's End waiting for Lucius. "Severus, are these the same books as at your Manor?"

"No, most of these are more of the grey and light side ones, ones that I can't get into trouble for having." Severus answered as he filled his tea cup.

"Would it be possible for me to read some of them? I would copy some of the older ones that don't have copyright laws, but some of the newer ones look interesting."

"Copy what you can. Yes, you may borrow the others. There are some more upstairs." Severus informed him. He was wondering exactly how the boy didn't end up in Ravenclaw.

"Was never a consideration. Slytherin or Gryffindor only. Had to force that hat for Gryffindor."

"How do you do that?" Severus asked, but before Harry could reply the floo chimed letting him know Lucius was waiting to be admitted. They headed for his living room, they did the normal pleasantries and Harry got down to business.

"Lucius, at the Bank today, we learned some interesting things. I believe this will help us out in Wizengamot but we need to tread carefully."

Lucius glanced to Severus to see if he could get any indication from Severus what was happening, but as usual, the man gave away nothing. "What do you need me to do?"

Harry quickly explained what they learned including that he wasn't really a Potter and Severus was now technically his guardian. "If we have the majority seats, does that help us with anything? If Severus takes my seats and his if he can take control of mine."

"Yes, a great deal, with the majority of seats, we control the Wizengamot. Severus will either have to attend the meetings or assign someone has his proxy for them to count. If he doesn't they will lay silent and can't be counted, so Dumbledore will remain in control."

"Even though he just lost our seats, if the goblins can do what they said they can do?." Harry wasn't sure if letting Dumbledore keep the seats or not was the best option as of yet. He needed more information.

"Yes, because they would be truly lost in a sense, they wouldn't be counting on either side, so therefore the numbers would just decrease on the board but not in support."

"Even if the majority was now with the dark?"

"Yes, because he is the Chief Warlock the only way that changes is from death or a reassignment of seats. The charter states they need to reassigned, it was created that way so that people wouldn't just slack off and leave it to a few people to run the Wizengamot instead of the 50."

"So the seats are different than the members?" Harry asked. "This is why we need a political science course or something at Hogwarts."

"Yes, they are different. Seats are earned by titles than your wealth. As your wealth increases, it is set up in stages. As you reach that next stage, you get a new seat, you can also lose seats if your wealth decreases beyond certain points. The lack of that class and a few others is one of the many reasons why so many of the pure-blood families get upset with muggle-born."

"If Severus assigns the seats to you, is there a way to cover that up so Dumbledore doesn't find out?" Harry wasn't about to let Dumbledore find out anything about him being with the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord before he wanted him to.

"Yes, as the Head of the House, he can assign the seats and when he does, he can file it using his status as the Head of House and have it declared as a family matter, sealing the files."

Harry stood up and snapped his fingers and two books came flying out of the library. He flipped through them until he found what he was looking for in each book and handed them to Lucius. "Can we use that fact that he didn't have permission to use those seats to get those laws repealed?"

Lucius looked at the laws and grinned. "Yes, because they were done after he took control of those seats illegally. Since the goblins claiming an audit using the robbery as the reason, they will tell the Ministry about the illegal use of the seats, and I can file for the laws to reviewed and bring them up for a review and new vote. It will depend however on if the goblin can make sure that the seats were being illegally used. Dumbledore could fight on their usage if the goblins can't give the evidence and we could lose the use of the seats that way also."

"They can, and we will do that, Severus will file as Head of House and assign the seats to you. I will need you to make a list of laws that would be good for us to have passed or even ones that were vetoed." Harry informed him, deciding on a course of action.

"There a vast number of them, some of them have clauses that we need to review and make sure they don't get passed."

"Good, now, I know you know the range of properties we own now, I need you also to review the leases on the shops we think we don't own, I was informed we owned that tea shop in Diagon Alley, I forget the name exactly and the old coot has been collecting money on it instead. I want to find out if we have that situation with any other of our people."

"You think he might have done it to others?"

"Yes, he hasn't shown to be the most honest person."

"I will speak to Ironclaw tomorrow about it and see what he can provide to us, regarding the seats and anything you discussed with him. I usually meet with him on Thursdays regarding your accounts and the stores. I will make sure he knows I am to handle these new accounts as well."

"Great, next, I want you to check with the Board of Governors about the classes that old coot has made disappear." Another book appeared in front of Lucius and he looked down at the book. "In there is a list of classes that have been canceled, now the interesting part is I can't find where they were canceled legally. So we need to know if they have really been canceled or he just is keeping those funds for the classes and hasn't hired a Professor for them."

"According to the budget and the Professors that Draco has mentioned this year I think there might be a Professor or two missing, as each year there is some strange class and new Professor in the budget but they are always gone the following year."

Harry turned and looked at Lucius, Severus and Lucius wondered what he was thinking, but neither said a word and waited. "When was the last time the school was audited?"

"Audited?" Lucius questioned, the goblins did the audits, he was wondering what Harry was thinking about.

"Yes to make sure the funds are going to the right accounts and nothing is being taken by the great and useless putz."

"I can't think of when one was done. I know Gringotts has offered, but it always gets declined."

"Who declines it?"

Lucius thought for a moment, going through his mental files and trying to see who had been doing the declining. "It's Doge, and he has a few who follow his lead."

"Isn't Doge a fan of Dumbledore?" Severus asked.

"Yes, they went to school together. I wonder if they are getting funds. He is one of the ones that will support whatever Dumbledore puts in front of us." Lucius began to make a plan on how to get the audit done.

"Get an audit done. Gringotts said they are going to do audits but I want to make sure Hogwarts is done." Harry told him. "I also want to get everyone back into shape, if we have to fight against the Light, many of them are Aurors and I don't want us to be outclassed by those idiots."

"Many have already started doing it." Lucius informed him. Many had started doing it because of the return of the Dark Lord, he had demanded before that everyone be in good dueling shape.

"Good, get the rest on board, we will be having weekly training lessons. I will be expecting everyone to be there and if they aren't they better have a great excuse like being dead."

"I will let the others know. Where will we be meeting?"

"It will be rotating. Have people who have dueling chambers or space set up, pick a week. If they have special wards or crap like that deal with it how you can."

Lucius nodded his agreement, he started to take notes.

"Severus spoke the Madam Pomfrey, it seems Professor McGonagall and her have been helping abused children get away from their families. Now Severus believes Dumbledore has been memory charming them regarding abuse and other things. I know he did it when Madam Pomfrey ran her health scan on me. What I want to know, is do we have anyone in that department?

"I don't believe so. I am sure we can get someone."

"Do so, I want a record of every abused child that they have had to help, I want to start gathering evidence against the old coot that isn't just about the dark side. I want to make sure every witch and wizard knows we care about their kids, how the light has allowed abuse and we are doing something to prevent it when the time is right and will do the most damage to the old creeper." Harry wasn't going to allow abuse to continue.

"Poppy has been keeping records, Lucius, I can see if I can get copies of them for you." Severus knew Poppy would want to aid them in this endeavor.

"Find out which department we have people in and what position, supporters or Death Eaters." Harry told him and again looked deep in thought. "Yes, Lucius you can use someone to help you." He walked out of the room and headed to the library.

Lucius glanced up to Severus, he knew what Severus was thinking that it wasn't something he asked, but Harry had just given him permission to do. Lucius looked at Severus, smirked at the look of confusion on Severus' face. "He has been doing that since I meet him at Yule." He told Severus.

"How?"

"No idea, at first we thought he was doing Legilimency but no one felt the buzz or the pressure that is associated with it."

"I know he has done it to me a few times, and you know my shields."

Harry came back into the room and handed Lucius a piece of parchment. "My muggles relatives' address. Take a few and visit them. I don't care what you do to them, I don't want to know, I can deny it that way and under Veritaserum, can't spill anything either. I wouldn't put it passed Dumbledore to try to use that on me."

"Can we get passed the wards?" Lucius looked at the address. He knew who would like to pay a visit to the muggles who abused Harry.

"Yes, they are just basic ones. I also made sure to switch the ones tied directly to me to someone else, so they won't trigger off any alarms."

Lucius smirked. "It will be my pleasure."

"Have fun." Harry grinned.

Severus paled a bit at that, he knew what Lucius and some of the others would do muggles who abuse children. "Severus, he does it, he will be nicer than I will ever be to them."

Severus glanced at Harry and nodded his acceptance, he knew he made his choice when he decided to aid Harry. He saw Harry give him a slight smile. "Do not tell me when it's done either. Any questions Lucius?"

"Do you want them to disappear?"

"Yes."

"Do you want us to leave anything behind?"

"No, actually make it look like they abandoned the house, have the muggles see a moving company there, so if the Dumbledore asks the neighbors, he will think they moved. I know he has a spy there, Mrs. Figg, don't hurt her but make sure she believes they moved away. That is the other address on the paper."

Lucius grinned at that idea. "We can use one of our companies, I believe they can even do a magical scrubbing, but make it look like there was a wizard that lived there if the spell is cast, but nothing else." Harry nodded his agreement, knowing it would confuse Dumbledore. "Regarding the Ministry departments, do you care which department has members versus supporters?"

"You know that area better."

"How far back do we want to aim for an audit?"

"As far back as you can bargain for."

Lucius looked down his list. "I believe that is all I need to ask."

"Good night Lucius. Let everyone know we will meet again on Monday and arrange for the weekly meetings to rotate to different days. If we get new recruits I want Rowle and Rookwood to check their background and their magic to make sure they aren't spying."

"It will be done." Lucius said as he rose from the chair. "Good night Master, I will see you Monday if not sooner."

As soon as Lucius left, Harry headed back to the library, Severus followed him. "Harry, can you answer my question now?"

"You mean how do I do that?" Harry asked as he gathered books up.

"Yes, that one, brat." His tone reflecting how annoyed he was getting.

"Watch it, Severus." The threat was clear in his voice.

Severus stepped back mentally and thought about what he knew about the boy. He didn't want him angry at him, but he also knew he wasn't going to let him boss him around in his own home. "This is my home, I believe I deserve an answer." He usually lived here in Spinner's End, he rarely used the Manor, this was his first summer he was planning on spending at the Manor.

"I also told you I would find my own arrangement. You selected to invite me into your home. Not the other way around." Harry snapped at him. His magic was flaring up. He really didn't need this right now. He was tired and wanted to head back to the Manor and relax.

Severus saw the flaring, he knew if he backed down the boy would win, if he didn't stand up for himself. "You will respect that this is my home."

Suddenly Harry disappeared, Severus blinked. Harry was gone. He realized he just made a huge mistake. He needed to think for a moment, where would Harry go, he didn't have a place to live. He realized Harry would go to Gringotts. Harry knew he had property, he ran to the floo, tossed the floo powder in, saying "Leaky Cauldron."

He stepped out and tried not to run to the Gringotts. He ignored everyone and was thankful it was late at night. He arrived at Gringotts, entered, and saw Harry. He made his way over to him. "Harry." Harry turned, glared at him, Severus froze on the spot. He recognized that glare. "I am sorry." He mumbled. Harry narrowed his eyes. "Can we go home and talk about this?" He asked, waiting, wondering what Harry would do. He had no idea where this was coming from since he hadn't felt like this since before he took the Dark Mark.

"We will be talking about this." Harry informed him. Severus didn't care for that tone, it sounded like the tone he used when he mentioned the muggles before he left school.

Severus inclined his head in acknowledgment. Together they headed out of the Bank, heading to the nearest apparition spot and Severus held out his arm and disparate back to the Manor. As they land, Harry spun on his heels and sent Severus flying into the nearest wall with just a push of his magic. Severus landed, moaned. "If you ever speak like that to me outside of Hogwarts, you will find how effective I can punish someone, do you understand?"

"Yes." Severus said as he got up. He now recognized what he was feeling. He knew he was a submissive by nature, he had been denying it ever since he took the Dark Mark and realized that wasn't the kind of master he wanted, he went to Dumbledore and he also wasn't the type of master he wanted, both of them had used him, left him wanting and needing more from someone. Harry was different. He didn't want anything from Severus, he didn't need anything from him, yet he was willing to give something to Severus. Harry was willing to learn from Severus, he was willing to listen to the man. He had proven that already.

"If you have a problem with me, we can talk but you will not ever speak to me like that again." Harry informed him, he headed to the kitchen.

Severus knew he lost the battle and the war. Harry was in charge, just like he showed he was in charge earlier in the day, even Lucius was afraid of Harry. He followed Harry, saw him putting the kettle on for tea.

Harry didn't turn around, Severus sat in one of the chairs, he watched Harry work in his kitchen and sighed, he wondered what Harry was thinking and hoped he would get an answer tonight. He knew they also needed to have a long talk. He promised to teach Harry to control his emotions, he hoped he could do that.

"You can and you will." Harry told him. "How I do it? I am not really sure, it's like when I read someone's magic, I don't need a spell like Rookwood or Rowle need to see it. I can just see it." He turned, looked at Severus. "Your magic sings to me, it tells me you are dark, but not cruel, deadly yes, but not cruel. You don't enjoy torture but you will do what you need to do to protect those you feel need protecting and what you can to survive. You might hurt someone who hurts you or someone you care about, like when the Dark Lord killed my mother. That hurt you, so you wanted to hurt him and went to Dumbledore, but you realized Dumbledore wasn't the answer either."

"How did you know about your mother?"

"She mentions you in her journals. She cared for you like you were her brother. That is why I went to you, your mark just made it a bit easier."

"She was like a sister to me, people thought I was in love with her, I loved her but I wasn't in love with her."

"That makes sense."

"Do your emotions control what you hear or see in magic?"

"No. I can turn it off or on. I had to turn it off at Hogwarts, so many people, so much magic flowing around. My emotions weren't so controlled at Hogwarts at times."

Severus thought for a second. "Harry, did you see the wards at your relatives' house?"

"Yes, very colorful. It is how I knew he was lying about the Blood Wards."

"Harry, you have mage sigh that is why you know the stuff you do, why you can see magic." Severus explained. "Mage sight is different for everyone, sometimes it sings like you said, other times, people only can see it. Some is a combination which you have. It also varies to degrees."

"Varies?"

"Yes, some might be stronger in seeing magic, yet weak in casting it. Some are strong all around like you except in your control of your emotions. I believe if we can get you to control most of your emotions, your magic strength will also increase."

Harry looked at him for a few seconds, tilted his head. "Will I still have to turn it off at times?"

"I am not sure, it might be something that only happens at Hogwarts as you say there is a lot of magic there and Hogwarts is over 1000 years old." Harry, he can tell was pondering what he has said. "We can start your lessons tomorrow. I will begin to give you Occlumency lessons. You will need to meditate before bed tonight."

"I have tried that, my mind is always too busy." Harry told him.

"I can help with that when it's time we will go upstairs and I will guide you in how to mediate." Severus explained. He can believe the boy's mind is always busy, he had seen him work the last two days. "It's basically going to be focusing on relaxing. I can give you a few books on Occlumency."

Harry nodded. "I am tired now, can we do that tomorrow night, after I read the books?"

Severus thought about all the books Harry had read, he would learn better after reading the books. "Yes, that will work."

He watched Harry get up from his chair and leave the room, heading for bed. It was going to be an interesting summer, Severus thought. He remembered they never went to the grocer.

Chapter 6: Summer Learning

Severus spent most of his time teaching Harry how to meditate and get control over his emotions with Occlumency. Each night they would spend an hour or so working on his Occlumency, and Severus was impressed by the skills the boy did have and how fast he was developing his shields.

They also spent a lot of time working out of Quills and Arrows. Severus was amazed at the number of different businesses Harry had going. The Death Eaters were actual businessmen and all of them followed Harry. His potion business was making him a small fortune in the little time he had it set up. They spent the mornings making potions, the afternoons at the store and evening finishing potions and working on Occlumency before bed.

The dueling sessions took up one night a week with the weekly meetings on another. Severus was amazed at Harry's skill, and many of the others were learning from him. The Death Eaters were actually enjoying dueling each other, as the Dark Lord wasn't there to Crucio them if they made too many mistakes. Harry corrected the mistakes, but not with punishment. He showed them how to improve their skills without giving them pain. Rookwood and Rowle helped teach Harry how to advance his dueling skills, with Rosier adding more muggle training type of skills to his workouts.

Harry, using his Metamorphmagi made a few appearances around Diagon Alley with Severus as Scott Snape, having decided to use that name. Severus avoided actually introducing him to anyone and Harry was fine with it. They did Harry's school shopping as Scott, with Severus picking up extra books for Harry to use.

They were in the bookstore waiting for Lucius to start the fight with Arthur and were surprised when the normally mild man hit Lucius. They certainly weren't expecting that, they thought it would be more of a debate, and Lucius would have to use his cane to dump out Ginny Weasley's cauldron, instead of a brawl that resulted in the cauldron being dumped. They watched the diary get put into Ginny's cauldron by Lucius and the man left. Harry stayed near the Weasley family to see if he could learn anything.

"I wonder where Harry is? I know the Headmaster is looking for him." Hermione was saying, she was over in the Potion section with just Ron there. Neither noticed the hidden Harry.

"He is still trying to figure out when he was last there. There is no one there. The house was completely empty he said." Ron told her.

"Do you think Harry will make it in time for the term to start?"

"I hope so. Mum and Dad are counting on that money. So am I, I want to get a broom so I can try out for the Quidditch team."

"Who is looking for him?" Hermione was looking through some books.

"Not sure, just know he has Dad looking at the Ministry and of course, Dung. It's not like we can tell a lot of people, hey Harry's abusive relatives have taken off with him can you help us find him." Ron stated, his tone filled with a bit of laughter.

"That is true. Since the goblins did the audits on the accounts, do you think the Headmaster will be able to keep getting money out of Harry's vaults?"

"He wasn't sure. He said that until we find Harry nothing can really be done, it's all blood based now with password protection. So even if we were to get new samples of his blood, we would still need the password."

"I thought he had a sample of Harry's blood already."

"He does, but he couldn't guess the passwords. He said there were a lot of questions and the goblins wouldn't tell him which ones he got right or wrong, so he has no idea what the password are."

Harry made his way back to Severus. "I just learned some interesting information."

Severus looked to Granger and Weasley, Harry nodded his head, but before he can say anything Molly Weasley was in front of him. "Severus, how nice to see you again."

"Molly." Severus gritted his teeth. He really loathed the woman, especially now that he knew the truth about her.

"Your son?" She asked, indicating Harry, who was standing next to Severus, standing almost like Severus did.

"Yes." Severus told her "we are getting some books before he heads back to France for the school year. Our last shopping trip before he leaves, we weren't expecting to see so many people or the book signing."

"Yes, isn't it wonderful to see Gilderoy Lockhart, here in person, it is amazing. He said he is going to be the new DADA Professor this year. I know my children can't wait." She informed them.

Severus could see over her and saw the Twins and Ron weren't happy with the news. "How exciting." Severus stated in his drollest voice. Severus noticed Harry hasn't moved and was mimicking his stance.

"So your son isn't going to go to Hogwarts?" She led the conversation back around to Harry's character.

"No, he enjoys France more." Severus turned, began speaking French to Harry, who responded back rapidly. They noticed that Molly couldn't follow them and continued on for a few minutes. "You must excuse us, we do have a lot to do, and I would like to spend more time with my son before he has to leave." Before she could return an answer they headed up to the sales clerk and paid for their books, talking in French, as they saw Ron following them, he wasn't very subtle.

They headed out of the store and meet Lucius for lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. The Weasley's showed up shortly afterward and Lucius tilted his head toward the Weasley family. "They are following us." Harry cast a Muffilio and a ward to ensure they weren't heard. "Why?"

"They want to get more information on Scott Snape, my son, to tell Dumbledore." Severus quickly explained about their original meeting.

Lucius tried not to smirk at the idea as their food arrived. "I wasn't expecting the man to hit me. Who would have thought he had that in him." Severus took out his potion pouch and gave Lucius a pain potion for him to take.

"That did surprise us too. Lucius, I need you to check with Ironclaw, it seems he has been trying to get into my vaults, they have a blood sample and the only reason they haven't been able to get in is because of the passwords."

"I will make sure Ironclaw is aware of it, he can make sure the tellers are away not to let anyone in. Are Granger and Weasley still looking to get paid?" Lucius was going to make sure they didn't.

"Yes, and they know I am missing. They have a select group looking for me. Arthur is checking at the Ministry." Harry answered him. "I think he might have to pay them out of his own accounts until he can get control again."

"That won't be happening." Severus reassured Harry. "I am your guardian, not Dumbledore, and he can't become your guardian or anyone else without my permission. Ironclaw set it up that I would need to be tested for potions and take a truth serum before it would be accepted, in case Dumbledore tries something like blackmail."

"I can keep an eye out at the Ministry. We have a person in each department now. There is one in Weasley's useless one."

"Good, I don't trust any of them as far as I can throw them." Severus stated.

"So how are we going to control the event this year?" Lucius asked.

"That diary will do it for us. I know they are going to drag me into whatever scheme they come up with when I appear at the school again. I also know I am going to be getting a "protection" lecture from the Great Wizard of Idiot himself. I have to figure out how I am going to play that."

"He still can't find the relatives?" Lucius asked, knowing he won't find them. He also knew the moving company did a great job of hiding their name on the truck and there wasn't anything left behind.

"Nope, not sure if I want to say I have been hiding out at friends' houses or if I even want to go back as Harry."

"You need to go back as Harry, our plans need Harry Potter alive." Severus told him.

"That is true, just not sure how we are going to do this, how am I going to get to the station without giving them a lot of questions." He stated, he really didn't want to deal with anyone on the light side.

"Can we do a switch?" They looked at Lucius. "We don't have a way to Polyjuice your Uncle, but you can look like him and have Severus be you. At the station, have your Uncle drop you off, you slip back and go into the bathroom meet Severus and switch out that way. Severus will head back to Hogwarts, you ride the train. You can say your Uncle got a new job and you needed to move because of that."

"That would work. I can get away for an hour or so to do it. I know I am going to get a lecture when I return in a few days and a grilling about my son." Severus said.

"The man is too meddlesome for his own good." Lucius was watching the Weasley family trying to find a way to listen to their conversation.

"That is very true. You can't tell Draco anything, if he changes his attitude toward me, it will give the game away."

"I haven't mentioned you to him or Narcissa." Lucius assured him. He knew his son couldn't act and would indeed ruin their plans. He loved his son, but he wasn't blinded by the boy's faults. He has received too many letters last year with Draco complaining about everything and had heard Draco favorite expression was "wait until my father hears about this."

"I am not looking forward to having to spend time with those two idiots and dealing with Dumbledore either."

"I can always add more detentions." Severus gave him a smirk, he knew he would be seeing Harry a lot during the year.

"You better or I fear I will kill them. I will need some escape."

"Do you know what the diary will do?" Lucius asked, changing the subject.

Harry grinned, a very evil grin. Severus and Lucius got a bad feeling from that grin. "You know exactly what that diary is, and what it will do, don't you?" Lucius asked.

"Of course. I also know what will happen. I will tell you more about it later. I don't want to try and explain here." Harry was still grinning at them.

"Sure, keep me in suspense, you do know I will need to know to help you out." Severus retorted.

"I know, you and Lucius will be helping out a lot with the plan this year."

"I will?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, I do hope it will work on getting rid of Dumbledore for good."

"I do like that idea." Lucius responded with a slight grin at that idea. "You know what you are going to tell Dumbledore about Scott?"

"Not really, I mean I can play I didn't know but at the same time I am thinking it's really not his business."

Harry nudged Severus, Severus looked and saw the Weasley family was trying to break through their wards to hear what they are saying. "Drop the Muffilio and go with speaking French?" Lucius asked seeing the family trying to hear, Ron looked like he was ready to fall out of his chair.

"No, but I do have an idea for when we leave." Harry answered.

"Have I mentioned I do like your ideas so far?" Severus did like the boy's ideas, he also was finding himself generally enjoying Harry's company.

"Not really but thank you, as we leave, we can mention about you applying for a job in France, let's make Dumbledore think you might be leaving, he might not be so pushy that way." Harry gave Severus a slight smirk.

"That is true. He won't want to look for a new spy or Potion Master. He can't even find anyone for the open positions he has now. Never mind, I will try to locate for a replacement for you." Lucius agreed.

Severus gave them a smirk. They spend the next thirty minutes or so enjoying their lunch and when they leaving, Severus said "thank you, Lucius. I do appreciate you putting me in touch with your friends. I am looking forward to being closer to Scott in France."

"It's not a problem I know you want to spend more time with each other." Lucius said as they were leaving the Leaky Cauldron.

Harry lagged behind a little and noticed that the Weasley family were now finishing up their meal, and were ready to follow them again. He wondered how they didn't realize that they are very noticeable as the hair alone gave them away. He met up with Severus and Lucius, "they are incoming." He quietly told them.

Severus tried not to roll his eyes as they headed to Slug and Jiggers Apothecary for potion ingredients. Lucius left them citing other obligations to which Harry replied, "You just don't want to deal with them."

"You are correct." Lucius remarked as he bid them farewell.

In the Apothecary, Granger made a beeline for Harry. She started speaking to him, not believing for a minute that the boy is who he says he is. "Salut, je suis Hermione Granger, je crois que vous êtes le fils du professeur Rogue? Je suis un de ses élèves." (Hi, I am Hermione Granger, I believe you are Professor Snape's son? I am one of his students.)

"Je suis Scott Snape et il est mon père, toutefois, je ne comprends pas pourquoi vous ressentez le besoin de me parler?" Harry tells her. (I am Scott Snape and he is my father, however, I don't understand why you feel the need to be speaking to me?)

He can tell Granger didn't like being treated like that, and now, however, believed he was, indeed, Snape's son, for his attitude was Snape's from Hogwarts. He really, however, didn't care and was taking some enjoyment out of being rude to her.

"Je pensais juste que vous pourriez aimer un ami ici en Angleterre, il semble que nous vous avons vu à quelques reprises, mais jamais avec quelqu'un de ton âge, et si vous allez à Hogwarts il aidera à avoir un ami." She told him. (I just thought you might like a friend here in England, it seems that we saw you a few times, but never with someone your age, and if you go to Hogwarts it will help to have a friend.)

Harry looked at her, raised an eyebrow, sneered "pourquoi voudrais-je aller à ton école quand elle est au bas du classement de l'éducation? Je croyais que vous devriez changer d'école, je ne désire pas perdre mon éducation." (Why would I want to go to your school, when it's at the bottom of the education system? I would think you would want to switch to a better school. I don't believe in wasting my education.)

"Miss Granger, may I help you with something?" Severus asked, seeing Harry talking to her.

"I was just trying to make a friend with your son. He might like to come to Hogwarts."

"My son doesn't speak English, and I don't believe he will be joining us at Hogwarts."

"Mrs. Weasley said he spoke English at the bank."

"No I spoke English at the bank, I have been slowly teaching him, but didn't get much done this summer as we had other things that we did instead."

Hermione had been watching Harry as they were speaking and noticed there isn't a flicker of any type of understanding of what was being spoken by them. "I am sure it wouldn't take much for him to join us."

"Miss Granger, he won't be joining us at Hogwarts. Now, if you don't mind I would like to spend the last few days with my son and not in debating his education with one of my students." Severus looked to Harry "Excusez-moi pour un de mes étudiants, elle est curieux. Tout est payé, nous pouvons maintenant aller chercher des vêtements pour vous pour l'hiver. Je crois que vous avez besoin d'une nouvelle gants, écharpe et un chapeau?" (I do apologize for one of my students, she is nosy. Everything is paid for. We can now go and get some clothes for you for the winter. I believe you need some new gloves, scarf, and hat?)

"Je comprends, et j'ai aussi besoin de nouveaux pantalons. J'ai besoin aussi de mes tenues scolaires, mais aussi d'un peu de vêtements pour le week-end et d'autres événements." (I understand, and I also need new trousers, I have my school outfits but need some for the weekends and other events.)

Severus nodded his agreement as they headed out. He put up another Muffilio, asking "what did she want?"

"It was another test. I don't think she believed I was who you said I was and wanted to test to see if I indeed spoke French as Ron told her, and she seemed to believe I would be going to Hogwarts."

"I got that impression too, about Hogwarts. I wonder how that happened."

"Not sure, but they are pushy, I am glad you have helped me in controlling my emotions because I know I would have had to Obliviate them a few times."

"It will be easier at Hogwarts, especially when I assign you all those detentions. Are you going to be able to cover your skills?"

"Yes, just do what I did last year."

"I need to head back in a few days, you going to be alright by yourself until I can get you to the train?"

"Yes, I am sure you will also be checking on me daily, so will Lucius. I will be staying at the Manor and doing research. No one is going to be expecting me to be around much during the school year."

"That is true. How are you going to handle our businesses?"

"Sneak out like I usually do. I just do it on the weekends when I can hide it better."

They walked to Gladrags to finish getting some of the items they knew Harry would need for Hogwarts. They saw Granger out of the corner of their eyes. "Wow, you would think they have better things to do then follow us."

"I agree." Severus didn't even bother to turn around. He knew they were being followed.

They finally made it back to the Manor to find an owl waiting for Severus. He read the message, handing it over to Harry. "It seems I am required at Hogwarts to explain you."

"He didn't wait long did he?"

"No, I believe I will go with the cousin agreement things, and not speaking English." Severus told him.

"Good luck, he shouldn't be too pushy if he thinks you are looking for a new job."

"Very true, I wonder if I can get a raise out of it."

"Try it, you just might. Have fun. Remember to torment him if you can."

Severus grinned as he apparated to Hogsmeade to walk to Hogwarts. He began to wonder why he even put up with the man, which was something that isn't exactly new to him. He had wondered about it for years. He arrived at the gargoyle, schooled his features, gave the password as the gargoyle started to move without him finishing speaking. He knocked on the outer door and heard "enter."

"Severus, my boy, lemon drop?"

"No. May I ask why you have summoned me?" How many times must I turn them down before he stops asking me.

"Well, I heard some interesting information. I didn't know you had a son, and were looking for a job in France."

From the Weasley family, Severus mentally added. "I want to spend more time with my son." Actually, he did want to spend more time with Harry. He found the boy very interesting.

"Why isn't he enrolled at Hogwarts? You know he could join you here." Dumbledore moved to the Student Book of Names. "I never saw his name in here."

"He doesn't speak English and my cousin and I agreed France is better for him. He wouldn't be in danger there since he wasn't born in the United Kingdom. He was born in France. You do remember my various trips to France?" Thankful for his many trips he had taken during his apprenticeship and for ingredients.

"I do remember, I didn't know it was for that reason. However, I am sure he can learn English fast. He is your son after all. I am sure we can find the right tutors to help him get caught up."

"Albus, he isn't coming here and you know why." Severus really wanted to hit the man with the Student Book of Names, he wondered if it might knock some sense into him, but refrained.

"You are willing to leave for that reason." Dumbledore sat back down in his chair.

"He is my son. I will not have him in danger." He really wanted to tell him that he didn't want Harry near Dumbledore, and if he had a son, he certainly wouldn't want the man near his son either.

"What about Tom? He is coming back. You know he will."

So you want to try that, keep your spy where you can use him, thinks Severus. "You have no proof of that and it's been over ten years." He knew the Dark Lord will be returning, Harry will make sure of that, so will Lucius.

"Your mark is the proof, it still exists."

"That doesn't mean a thing, I am not going to debate with you about my son, his education, or if I get a new job." He saw Albus wanted to have a debate but knew he won't do it. Severus had never debated with him and he wasn't going to start now.

"I can see about getting you some help so maybe you can visit your son on the weekends?" He tried.

"What kind of help?" Severus asked.

"An apprentice?"

"No, that will make more work for me and that is why I haven't taken one in the first place." Severus informed him. An apprentice would tie him down more and the old goat knew it.

"What if we had two students who would assist you with your lower levels, you only have to remain here one weekend a month to cover patrolling and help with the students."

Severus pretended to think about it. He knew he would take it, but as he was thinking Albus added "I can have Aurora become the assistant Head of House to Slytherin. She was a Slytherin, after all."

"I can agree to that, I want it in writing." Severus answered him. Aurora would be able to take the late nights, since she was up because of her classes.

"Agreed, if you stay here."

Severus tilted his head in acknowledgment. "I will expect the contract in the next few days, now I want to return to my home, I only have a few more days with my son after all." He got up, leaving without waiting for a dismissal.

He landed at home, Harry looked at him. "So you got more than we bargained for, nice now we can make sure our plans work."

"Yes, he agreed to just one weekend a month for me working, two assistants for classes and Aurora Sinistra to help with my snakes."

"Bonus, it will give us more time to work on the potion business."

They headed to the kitchen to make dinner.

Chapter Management

Chapter 7: Train and Hogwarts

Harry and Severus arrive at the platform, did the exchange in the bathroom. Harry morphed back into himself as Severus took the antidote to the poly-juice potion. Severus was clearly worried. "Harry, remember your shields and don't let them bother you. Use your cloak after the feast if you need to visit me."

"I know, Severus, and I will. I am so not looking forward to this day. You know they are going to be a huge pain." Harry began to check around the bathroom to make sure they hadn't left behind anything.

"You have the protection jewelry on?" Severus asked, not even bothering to state the obvious about Granger and Weasley being very interested in what happened to Harry. "The potions I gave you will also help if they try to slip you anything. Remember don't look at the old fool's eyes."

"Severus, I am not sure who is more anxious about this day me or you, but I will see you tonight. I will be fine, we worked hard on my control." Harry smiled at him. He knew without Severus' help there would be two dead Gryffindors by the end of the year.

Severus cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and followed Harry to the train, he watched him board the train, walked to Lucius, who was in a corner, gave Lucius' sleeve a little tug to let him know everything was fine. He saw Lucius brief nod and he left for Hogwarts.

Harry found a compartment and settled down, pulled out a book when he heard the door slam open, he looked up and saw Granger and Weasley standing there. "Harry, we are so glad to see you." Granger told him. "Where have you been?"

Harry looked at her confused and before he could answer Weasley said, "We have been looking for you."

"I wasn't aware I was lost." Harry answered. They hadn't put their trunks up and already starting on him, he wondered if he would actually make it to Hogwarts without having to memory charm them.

"You know what we mean, no one heard from you all summer." Granger said, taking the seat across from him.

"Kind of hard when I don't own an owl and no one wrote to me." Harry saw their faces reflect the fact that they hadn't written to him. He knew they won't mention the true reason for their questions. He also knew they were going to report this conversation to their boss.

"I stopped by your house and it was empty." Granger said, fishing for information.

"How? I never gave you my address." Harry saw Granger's face when she realized her mistake.

"I looked it up in the phone book." She replied, hoping that it would work, at his raised eyebrow she realized she was caught in another lie. "I am sorry, but I did know your address, I saw your Hogwarts letter."

"You didn't let anyone know that it said that my address was the cupboard under the stairs? Because if you did I am sure someone would have come from Social Services and helped. There was plenty of time for them to find me." He questioned, wondering exactly how she expected him to believe she saw his letter since the original one was destroyed.

Weasley looked like his normal lost self, as he doesn't understand the muggle references but he can tell Granger was digging herself deeper. "I am sure it wasn't meant to harm." He assured Harry. "You know how she worries, and we are your best friends."

Harry turned to look at Weasley. "Would you want to live in a cupboard under the stairs?" When he got no answer, he returned to his book, he saw Granger and Weasley try to figure out what to do to recover the ground they have lost.

"How was your summer, Harry?" Granger asked, trying to change the subject and hopefully, gain some useful information out of Harry.

"Long." He responded, never taking his eyes off of the book he was reading.

"Harry I know you are upset with us, but really, we didn't mean anything by it." Weasley told him.

Harry ignored them and kept reading after a more few pointless questions, he saw Granger pull out a book and Weasley look like he is going to take a nap. He couldn't wait to get this day over. He knew he was going to get a summons to Dumbledore's office. He didn't even respond when Draco tried to get him to rise to his baiting but he did enjoy Weasley and Granger getting upset over Draco's words. He almost grinned when Draco left saying, "well I see Potty is useless as usual."

He tilted his head to let Severus know he didn't lose it on the train and took a seat. Shortly after he sat down he got a message saying Dumbledore wanted to see him in his office. Harry stuffed it in his pocket and ignored everyone and everything, he ate when the food appeared, reading as he was eating. When they were dismissed he headed to Severus' quarters.

Severus entered a few minutes later. "I don't have much time as I need to talk to the first years. How did it go?"

"Laughable, Granger dug herself deep with a lot of lies. I just wanted to let you know nothing happened on the train. I need to head up to his office in a few minutes." He paused. "I will let you see the memories this weekend."

"Know what you are going to say?"

"I am not going to say a word." Harry grinned at him.

Severus looked at him. He knew it would drive Dumbledore batty. "So, same plan as last year?"

"Exactly, I saw Weaslette with the diary, let Lucius know she has been writing in it, when she opens the Chamber, we will let him know."

"How long?" Severus wondered briefly it will be based on how much she writes in it or not. He isn't worried as he knows it will work.

"A month or so. Lucius will have plenty of time make sure Dumbledore is busy with the Board and Wizengamot and can't keep track of everything here. I better head up there."

Severus watched him go, glad Harry finally learned to control most of his emotions, he still got angry, it just took longer. He wondered how long before Dumbledore would make him lose control. He headed to the snake pit.

Harry glared at the gargoyle. He wasn't going to say a word. He stood there for almost 10 minutes before the gargoyle moved and he rode the stairs up to the top. He knew Dumbledore knew that he was outside of his door, when people stepped on the stairs, he had seen the small rune, that would tell him who was coming. He also wondered if the gargoyle told him who tried to enter or if Dumbledore just relied on the rune. He would have to turn on his mage sight later to check to see.

"Harry, my boy, I am glad to see you return. Lemon drop?" Harry ignored him. "I am wondering what happened this summer?"

Nothing was said, the minutes ticked by and Harry began to think about different DADA spells, running them down in his mind, making sure to keep it the ones in the first and second-year books. He refused to think about Lockhart. "Harry, you must speak to me."

After another thirty minutes of silence, he could see Dumbledore was losing his patience. "Harry, you need to tell me where you were all summer, no one was at your relative's house, it was empty." He paused, "you can't be upset with me for wanting to make sure you were kept safe."

Harry noticed a vain was beginning to throb in the man's left temple area and focused on that instead of even pretending to listen to anything he was asked. After what he felt was another twenty minutes. "Why don't you go to bed Harry? It will be a busy day tomorrow."

Harry got up and left the office, he could hear something break as he headed down the stairs and grinned, he succeeded in his goal, he annoyed all three of them. He couldn't wait to show Severus and Lucius the memory of making Dumbledore's vein throb.

Severus was sitting in the weekly staff meeting, this was the fourth one, listening to everyone rattle on about whatever they deemed important, he was sitting in his usual corner, sipping his tea, trying to wake up. He had no idea why the man called or held these meetings at 5 AM but he just wanted to be back in his bed. He listened to everyone report on their troubled students, the ones who were struggling and of course the praise of some students. He never spoke about his snakes, so no one was surprised when he remained quiet and drank his tea. He also knew Aurora wouldn't be speaking about his snakes either, she was a former snake herself and you didn't share house information.

"I am worried about Mr. Potter." Dumbledore finally said. Severus didn't react but he was now alert. "I am not sure if any of you have spoken to Mr. Potter." No one answered him. "It is as I feared. Mr. Potter's relatives moved his past summer, I can't get him to tell me anything, he refused to speak a word to me the night of the Welcoming Feast or any other time I have tried to speak to him."

"He hasn't spoken to me, outside of class that is. His work has him at the top of my class for his year, his grades are better than Miss Granger's." Minerva added.

Severus can feel Poppy's look at him, he glanced at her, tilts his head and she nodded and they went back to listening. He knew Poppy understood that Harry was, in fact, fine.

"I haven't had an issue with him. I am in agreement with Minerva on his work." Several of the Professor remarked. They did state how annoying Granger was and how they need to curb her know-it-all attitude and hand waving. Severus was tempted to tell them to do what he does, but they won't listen, it keeps getting brought around to Harry by Dumbledore.

"Severus?" Dumbledore asked.

"He isn't failing if that is what you want to know." Severus stated.

"He has had a few detentions with you." Minerva said.

"Are you surprised by that?" He asked.

"Have you been able to talk to him?" Dumbledore asked him.

"He does lines or scrubs cauldron, why do you think I would speak to him?" Severus told him. "Really all this fuss for the Brat is unreal." He huffed.

"Can you try? You seem to be the only one who he actually has some interaction with outside of class." Dumbledore asked of him.

"Not by choice." Severus retorted. He was enjoying this, he wondered how soon he can get the vain to throb, they have an ongoing bet on who can get it to happen again and how many times they can make it happen. "If you want him to talk, put him in front of a reporter, I am sure the attention he would gain from that would make him speak."

He can see Minerva's lips press together in displeasure. "Really Severus, you know he isn't like that." She finally said. He wondered if Poppy had talked to her and he saw Poppy shake her head slightly, letting him know she hadn't.

They continued on with the meeting and as Severus was leaving he heard, "Severus a word, please." Severus wanted to grin, he might be able to get that vain to throb after all. He was glad he agreed to this bet. He wondered if they can do it all year.

"Yes, Albus." He turned to face the man, said man was trying to look lost and confused, but Severus knew he was more concerned his weapon wasn't obeying him.

"I would appreciate it if you could please make the effort regarding Mr. Potter, he needs someone. For Lily, please." Dumbledore said.

Severus glared at him. He knew Dumbledore used Lily for a reason. "I told you my answer. Why don't you have Minerva give him detention and speak to him, if you are so concerned. I am sure she can come up with a reason." He kept his eye on the vain as he continued "or better yet, try talking to him yourself, you want him to trust you after all." Almost he can see it starting but before he can continue Minerva stepped back into the room.

"Albus, there is a problem with Mr. Weasley, it seems he screaming his head off about spiders and won't calm down. The whole tower has been woken because of the noise and most of the students have no idea what is going on. The Twins have been trying, Percy has been looking for us." She told them.

Severus wanted to curse, figured Weasley would ruin it, he thought. Wait, spiders, he tried not to smirk, he knew Harry had to do it, he knew Weasley was petrified of them. He saw the vein throbbing, he had to tell Harry he won. He headed back to his quarters. It's only been a month and already has been a more interesting year than any other year since he started here. He thought that is the fifth or sixth prank Harry has played on Weasley.

Saturday morning and Severus was heading to Quirks and Arrows. He entered and saw Harry already at his desk, looking through the accounting books. "Severus, you are early."

"Had to get away, Dumbledore was driving me crazy." He went and picked up the Potion orders he knew the other Death Eater put on his small table. He began to look through them as he heard a few chuckle as they knew this weekly routine by now. "He wants me to work on you again."

Harry just shook his head and went back to work. The meeting wasn't set to start for another hour so everyone just kept on doing whatever they have been doing. "Rowle, why is there two entries for wands?"

"Yaxley and Macnair needed untraceable wands for that dock job on Tuesday." Rowle explained. "The report should in on your desk."

"It might be, I haven't gotten to them as of yet." Harry glanced up as Lucius entered, Lucius handed him some parchment. Harry read it and his magic lashed out. "I will kill him."

Severus looked at Lucius, wondering what was going on. "Dumbledore has decided he wants to petition to get full custody of Harry." He explained, and the rest of the Death Eaters wanted to find safety.

"Can we stop it?" Severus asked. He saw Harry trying to regain control but the anger was too intense, to wild. His magic hadn't been released in a while and it wanted to fly.

"I have been working on it. I have been citing everything from his lack of time, using his busy schedule with Wizengamot, ICW, and Hogwarts, and his age. I am going to bring up his muggle relatives on Monday, but wanted to see how we wanted to handle it." Lucius said.

Harry froze. "The muggles." He paused, "I want you to push the lack of knowing where I was all summer, I know you will know how to work that angle, hit him hard about not letting anyone know where I have been living. When you know it's right when you know everyone is ready to either lynch him or vote for him, I want you to produce the invoice for the Dursleys moving, change the address to out of the United Kingdom. Ask him where I have been all summer, if he tries to clam up or says he was taking care of me, I want you to say how you were at the bank when I arrived and saw my state, decided to hide me."

"He might go the Death Eater route."

Harry grinned. "I do hope he does. Get all of our people to push for him to reveal what has been going on, you are going to provide the health report by the Goblins." Harry searched his desk. "Here are the expenses for one of my properties, submit that as proof you have been hiding me." He gave Lucius a rolled up piece of parchment.

"I want the rest of you to act confused if you were outed as a Death Eater if not, you go with everyone else and demand answers. Anyone with grey voting, I want you to try and force truth serum, it won't work but might make him back off quicker, since the property wasn't under a Fidelius Charm, he can't skip over it."

"They won't let me have custody of you, so what do we want to do with that." Lucius stated.

Harry smirked. "I knew there was a reason to have my parents' Wills unsealed. Get a copy from Ironclaw, since they would have been filed by now." He paused, "Severus is listed as my guardian on them."

Lucius looked at him. "Well played little snake, well played."

"Let's get our meeting started." Harry said, they all took their seats and gave their reports. After everyone was gone, Severus and Lucius sat with Harry. "We have a cat petrified. I know where the entrance is, but that Basilisk is batty. I mean really batty but willing to work with us. I stole the dairy and spoke with Tom, he told me she is following his directions and complained about how much she writes about me."

"She is creepy the way she follows you."

"Between her and Creevey, with his camera, I am not sure who the bigger stalker is."

"Might want to mention the Statute of Secrecy he is breaking." Lucius reminded them.

Harry looked at him. "I think I have a better idea, I have kept his film from developing, but I know he has taken numerous pictures of everything. See if you can send the Ministry after him, if I do it, you know it will get back to Dumbledore. This way it's nice and legal and it's not connected to me."

"Underson is in that department, I will let him know." Lucius answered him, "He will love to do it." The man loved to give muggles a hard time about breaking the Statute of Secrecy.

"Harry, I am wondering about what Dumbledore might do about me having custody of you. He might threaten me with Azkaban again." Severus told them. Harry and Lucius he can see are furious about his remark and he didn't understand why.

"What do you mean by threatened you with Azkaban?" Lucius asked as he regained control faster than Harry did. Lucius reined in his anger and magic.

"Every time I have broken away from what he wanted he uses that, I almost expected him to do it to get "Scott" to go to Hogwarts, even though Harry had told me what to do." Severus said his head down, he didn't want to see their disappointment that he was going to make their plan fail.

"He can't if he does he goes against his own testimony about your role in the war. He would find himself in front of Wizengamot for treason." Lucius said he looked to Harry. Harry nodded his understanding and he knew they would be talking about Severus while he worked in his lab here. "He also can't use it to stop you from taking guardianship of Harry for that same reason."

"Severus, what else has he done?" Harry asked, gently.

"He still uses Lily as a way to try and control me. Reminds me how I loved her, he thinks I was in love with her and of course, the prophecy."

"Guilt, his favorite way to get people to do what he wants by having them believing his view of what they did wrong. Severus, he took one mistake and has twisted it. You have nothing to feel guilty about." Lucius said. "You didn't know it meant Lily and when you did you tried to fix it."

Severus looked at them since he admitted what has been happening. "I got Lily killed."

"No, he did. He could have protected them better." Harry told him, they looked at them. "That prophecy, I have been researching it, there was just too many things that didn't make sense, including that fraud he has kept at the Castle. Why is he keeping her so protected? If it was valid, she shouldn't remember it, so how is she in danger? Next, she is a lush and yet goes into a pub, for a job interview, with no wards? Everyone puts up privacy wards unless it's just trivial stuff, but a job interview in his brother's pub? Does that make any sense?"

"I only heard a few lines." Severus explained. "So he could have added them before I got kicked out."

"Yes, why not anything before that? I know you said you got tossed out, but while you are getting tossed out he can still hear the prophecy clearly enough to say he knows it?"

Severus thought for a few minutes. "Like James and Lily thought, it's all a setup."

Harry realized something. "The Wills, they will have all that information about me."

"No, they will only release the guardianship and anything regarding items left to people, the shop will get mentioned, as will the funds. They don't release personal messages." Lucius explained while Harry was one person you didn't want mad at you, Harry wasn't so naive enough to believe he had all the answers and relied on the those too did to provide him with the correct information.

"That might make him more wary of angering you Severus, you will have funds to take me and leave and move to France to be with Scott." Harry grinned at Severus.

"He is going to be a pain in the arse about me having custody of you, but I can see how we can work it to advantage." Severus returned the smirk.

"Why don't you go and work in your lab? I put some unicorn blood in there for you, also some fresh Basilisk venom. I need to review some accounts with Lucius." Harry told him.

Severus got up, taking his orders with him, and headed to his lab, as soon as the door closed Harry tossed up a parseltongue privacy ward. "Were you aware of what that man has done to him?"

"No, if I had been I would have gotten him away, that man has almost destroyed all of Severus confidence."

"I agree, he has it when it comes to Potions and in Hogwarts, but Lucius it makes me want to make Dumbledore hurt more. Give the man a long, painful death."

"I agree. You know he already submits to you."

"I know, I have been reading books on how to help him build up confidence, now that I know what it is from, I can do more research and help him."

"If you need anything you know I will help." They didn't speak anymore on the subject as they knew the office wasn't really the place to talk about it.

"Antonin had no luck looking in Russia for the Dark Lord." Lucius said, changing the subject to the next important task. "He still has some smaller areas and towns to check out but he doesn't think it will be successful." A few hours later they were still looking at the map and Harry almost jumped a mile when Severus touched his shoulder.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you but the clerk out front said someone was in there looking for you."

"Me specifically?"

"No, he wanted the owner of the store. I looked and saw it is one of the Order members, it's Hestia Jones. I don't know what she wants."

They watched Harry morph into a tall, blond haired man with a beard, about 40 with a slight paunch. "Let's see what we can find out." Harry exited the back room. Lucius and Severus moved to the secret spying hole.

"I am Bob Quirks can I help you?"

"Good to meet you, Sir, I am Hestia Jones. I got your shop's name from someone who recommended that you could provide me with some special inks and also some unique items."

"If I have it, I can provide it. What are you looking for?"

"I need three black no trace ink, two blue messenger ink, and one red no trace ink, the unique items I need are three different gadgets I was told were provided before. They are called Cat's Cradles, Mercedes Device, and a Golden Slipper."

"The inks you can take today, my clerk Donald will help with that, the gadgets I will need a few days to get. Leave your information with him and I will owl you when you can pick them up."

"Thank you."

Harry headed back to the back room. As soon as they door closed he looked at the woman through the hole. "Do you know what they do?" Harry asked.

"I am only familiar with the Cat's Cradles, I have heard of the other two but no idea what they do." Severus answered, his area was potions and defense, not magical artifacts.

"I only know of the Mercedes Device." Lucius added. "Why do you think she is asking for them?"

"It ties into him wanting custody of me. The Cradle would make me trust him, it gives you a feeling that the person raised you, loves you and cares about you. Mercedes Device, now that is interesting, it would allow him to suggest things to me, if you don't follow the suggestion the device will keep urging you until you do it, when you do it, it gives you a reward when you finally do it, depending on how long it takes the smaller the reward, the quicker you do it the bigger the reward. The Golden Slipper those are just shoes that are traceable, no matter where you are."

"I would say don't give them to him but he will just find someone else to buy them from."

"So what are you going to do?" Severus asked.

"They have to be keyed to someone before they can be used. Now, we know he knows how to key them but what if I were to add something to them. We can etch a rune into them, hidden with parsel spells, so he wouldn't be able to see it."

"Like what Rookwood did with the devices at the Ministry?" Lucius asked. He thought it was a good idea.

"Exactly." Harry answered.

"He needs to get custody for him to use them, he has to be sure he will get it." Severus said. He was nervous. He wondered what Dumbledore might be planning.

"He won't. Lucius, I want to be there on Monday. Who could I replace?"

"Avery, he is usually quiet and sits next to me."

"Make the arrangements with him, we can do the switch here and that way no one will see him." Harry smiled.

"I do believe it's time to get Poppy to help us. I am after all feeling slightly under the weather."

"You are going to need to rest. We can't have you getting sick." Severus smirked. "She will also not be happy with what he has planned." Severus knew just how to get Poppy to help them.

"Poppy, may I speak to you?" Severus asked as he entered the infirmary on Sunday afternoon, he selected this time as he knew it was empty.

"Yes, Severus come into my office and we can talk." She told him. She called for tea and once it is served asked, "you need help for Harry?"

"Yes, Albus is trying to get custody but Poppy he wants to use Cat's Cradle, Mercedes Device, and a Golden Slipper on him."

"WHAT?" Poppy looked furious.

"We have that part taken care of, it's the custody part we need help with. The goblins are going to provide the health report, but you see Harry wants to be there for the hearing, so we need you to cover for him."

"You best tell me everything. This is covered under the Vow."

Severus told her everything from the time he first started helping Harry, to yesterday. He explained what they doing tomorrow.

"I can cover for him tomorrow. I want to go to Quirks and Arrows next time and help."

"Poppy, these people are Death Eaters."

"Yes, but they are doing things that those in the Light should be doing. Instead, we have Albus allowing abuse, wanting to use devices to control a child, he has set the magical world back by decades with his policies. I want to help fix our world."

"As long as you understand what you are asking. I will mention it to Harry. He knows you want to help, he had Lucius put a person in the Child Services Area to help the children."

"See that is what I mean, Albus hasn't done a thing about it, he actually allows it."

Severus gave her a small grin. "I do understand what you mean Poppy and I am glad you are willing to help us."

"Now, you relax, I am sure everything will work out fine tomorrow. Harry and Lucius will make sure you keep custody."

"Thank you Poppy."

Chapter 8: Custody Battle

Lucius and Harry, looking like Avery, sat down in their seats. "Do I need to do anything?" Harry asked.

"No, just let me do the talking and Avery votes grey. You can push the truth." Lucius quietly instructed him. He saw Harry nod his agreement and they sat back, to watch and wait.

After an hour Dumbledore finally brought up the custody issue. "I have put forth my name for custody of Harrison James Potter. He needs more guidance in our world and I can provide it."

Lucius stood up. "I believe I speak for a number of us who are wondering why this issue is in front of the Wizengamot and why now are you seeking custody?"

"Due to the status Harry has, I believe it was better to make sure it was handled correctly and I am now seeking custody. The boy needs guidance in understanding his role he has played in our world and will continue to play."

"Yes, of course, your theory on He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is returning." Lord Nott stated, earning a few snorts in hidden laughter. "You are looking for this as a way to control the boy and which side of this battle you are trying to force us into believing will happen."

"I have stated numerous times my theory regarding that issue. I am not trying to control the boy."

"I disagree, you never expressed any concern over the boy until now, I am wondering why." Lord Parkinson asked.

"Seems that way to me, you have no interest in him, leaving him to be raised by his muggle relatives and now that he is back in our world you seek custody." Lady Longbottom commented. "You have been pushing that theory and using it to keep the fear alive of his return. I wonder what you have kept hidden from us?"

"I am trying to make sure the boy is taking care of as I have been all these years." Dumbledore tried to reassure everyone. He tried to hide his disappointment in Lady Longbottom but if you looked closely, it was there.

"You have been taking care of him all these years?" Harry asked, hoping he used Avery's voice pattern correctly. The voice spell made him sound like Avery, but he wasn't sure if he spoke the way Avery would have.

"Yes, I have been watching over him, his relatives have had the honor of raising him under my tutelage, I am now just seeking to make it legal."

Lucius stood up again, bringing out some parchment. "I submit this healers report." He handed Madam Bones a huge stack of parchment. "That is the health report of Harrison James Potter. If you notice the seal on each page, you will see Healer Risek's seal. Healer Risek is the Goblin's Head Healer at Gringotts. You can see the clear history of abuse, is that the kind of tutelage you provided?"

"He wasn't abused. His relatives may not have loved him enough but he wasn't abused." Dumbledore hoped he could keep them from seeing it. "I don't see how that report will help in any way. If he was abused it is more or a reason to give me custody of him." He knew they abused the boy badly.

Madam Bones summoned an Unspeakable over, she handed him the parchment. "Make copies please." Soon there are copies floating around the room, allowing others to read what the original stated.

"I demand these relatives be arrested." Lady Longbottom finally spoke after several minutes of silence as people read through the thick report, voicing the opinion of numerous others.

"I second that." Lady MacMillan looked up for the parchment.

"We need the address Headmaster Dumbledore." Madam Bones informed him.

"I am afraid I can't provide that. The boy wasn't abused. It's all just a misunderstanding."

"This isn't a misunderstanding, numerous broken bones, and long-term starvation, malnutrition, and muscle damage. This is abuse and you allowed it." Lord Urdga stated.

"Truth Serum will loosen his tongue." Stamford Jorkins shouted from his chair.

"I agree, or use Veritaserum, as I don't believe we will get the truth out of the man." Antonin Dolohov added. "I want to find out more about this abuse. This history is long and Mr. Potter's relatives should face our judgment on this matter." Antonin looked at the Harry-looking Avery and saw the slight shake of his head. He knew the relatives already paid.

Lucius stood up, for a third time, to submit another piece of evidence. He could see Dumbledore was getting annoyed with him, he enjoyed watching the old man's face. "Here is their address. You will find the Headmaster doesn't want them arrested, as it would be for more than the abuse charges."

"Can you provide more information on what you mean?" Minister Fudge asked.

"Yes, you see, if you notice the address, it's an invoice from a moving company. They no longer reside in the United Kingdom. The real reason why he wants custody is he is afraid of where Harry will spend his holidays, as he didn't know where he spent last summer." Harry almost smirked, he liked the twist Lucius added. "The goblins has also submitted a report about the wards at the old address, you will see there weren't any protection wards, as we were informed, instead there were submission wards, wizard repellent ward, and one that would keep Mr. Potter tied to the property, unless his relatives gave him permission to leave."

Dumbledore glared at Lucius. "You expect us to believe you know where Mr. Potter was and you took care of him?"

"I am not sure how you arrived at that conclusion from my statement but yes. I found Mr. Potter at Gringotts. He was barely standing up until a Healer was called, I was sure he was going to collapse on the floor in the main lobby." Lucius picked up another piece of parchment, as he remained standing. "You will see that is the invoicing of expenses Harry used while staying at a safe place. Harry keeps very good notes."

"Mr. Potter needs a guardian, and I am the best one for that position." Dumbledore stated.

"How? You allowed the boy to be abused, you admit the muggles were doing it under your tutelage, and you certainly didn't know where he was last summer." Lady Longbottom asked.

Harry leaned close into Lucius. "Who is she? Why is she supporting us?"

"That is Neville Longbottom's grandmother, and I am surprised she is, usually she is a firm Dumbledore woman, but I do know she doesn't like abuse, so that could be it."

"There is no one else to take custody of Mr. Potter who can handle the unique situation. Since his parents didn't leave a Will, I am stepping forward to take guardianship of Mr. Potter." Dumbledore stated ignoring the questions that were being asked and the gossip that was making its way around the Wizengamot.

"No Wills?" Madam Bones asked as she was looking at Dumbledore, wondering what the man was trying to accomplish.

"Yes, no Wills." Dumbledore firmly replied, smugly looking at Lucius.

"How strange, because I have copies of Wills for the Potters. Each one clearly stated that Severus Snape was to get custody of Harrison James Potter." Madam Bones said. "According to the Goblin Ironclaw, you sealed the Wills on the first of November, 1981."

There was silence again and Fudge said, "set the Wills up to be heard, the parts that are allowed to be heard by us."

"Certainly Minister." Madam Bones stood up and picked up one of the Wills. "This is the Will of James Charles Potter." Soon the room was filled with the voice of James as he spoke:

"I, James Charles Potter, kicked the bucket. I hope I died having some fun. I was going to make a huge long list of people to leave stuff to, but I decided against it. So here goes:

Remus Lupin, if you aren't the traitor or if you haven't done anything wrong to my family, I leave you 20,000 Galleons and the Lake House, you know the one.

Sirius Black, I leave you our trunk of pranks and ideas. Have fun, my friend. Thank you for not being the secret keeper.

Peter Pettigrew: if we are dead, it's because of him. He was the secret keeper and Albus Dumbledore was the caster of the spell.

Severus Snape, I leave you 25,000 Galleon, the store located at 45 Diagon Alley, and if Harry has given you this Will, you will know where to find our map, we left it in the secret place.

Custody of Harry:

Severus Snape

Signing off, James Charles Potter

Chaos erupted as they realized a few things. One being Dumbledore knew all along there were Wills, knew who the secret keeper was and he was the who cast the spell. "Silence. Madam Bones, please continue."

"Ironclaw stated most of Lily Potter's Will were personal messages to her son and Professor Snape. We can only hear part of hers." Soon Lily's voice floated into the chamber:

Severus, I forgave you a long time ago. I am trusting Harry to you. So is James, we all know you are the best bet for Harry.

I love you both.

Custody of Harry Potter:  
Severus Snape

Signing off, Lily Potter

The voice faded and everyone was looking at Dumbledore. Lucius sent a feral grin to Dumbledore as he spoke. "I petition that custody of Harrison James Potter be granted to Severus Snape according to his parents' wishes."

"Severus Snape can't have custody of Mr. Potter, he is a Death Eater." Righteous indignation coming out of his voice and mannerisms, as Dumbledore objected.

"According to your testimony at the time, he was a spy for you, are you saying you bore false witness?" Lucius asked. Dumbledore didn't reply.

"Second the motion for Professor Snape to receive custody of Harrison James Potter." Lord Nott stated.

"I put forth the motion Harry's godfather be granted custody." Dumbledore inserted before the vote could be taken.

"Who is his godfather?" Minister Fudge asked. He was getting annoyed by Dumbledore.

"Sirius Black."

"The mass murder, you want to give custody of a boy to someone who is in Azkaban?" Lord Parkinson asked, surprise clear in his voice.

"According to the Wills, Peter was the secret keeper, therefore, he has to be innocent." Dumbledore answered putting forth some concern into his voice at the lack of justice being withheld.

"Which you knew all along, but Mr. Black isn't in Azkaban for killing the Potters or betraying them. He is in there for killing Peter Pettigrew and twelve Muggles."

"He never received a trial." Dumbledore mentioned, grasping at straws.

"You knew this?" Madam Bones asked as she glanced up at Fudge, they would be working on pressing charges on Dumbledore, she could tell by his face and she agreed.

"Yes, he was one of the many who the Aurors arrested and at the time were put into Azkaban for their known crimes." Dumbledore calmly stated.

"We will look into this matter. However, custody of Harrison James Potter will be given to Severus Snape, as per the wishes of his parents. Any objections?"

Three people raise their wands, Dumbledore, Doge, and Podemore. Doge and Podemore were friends from Dumbledore's school days and blindly followed Dumbledore.

"For?"

Forty-seven wands were raised. "Custody of Harrison James Potter is now granted to Severus Snape." Fudge ruled.

"I request supervision of this guardianship until such a time we can determine if Sirius Black can take guardianship."

"Mr. Dumbledore, we all know Mr. Black is one of your biggest supporters, I am wondering why you are pushing for him to have guardianship over Professor Snape?" Lady Longbottom asked.

"I just want to make sure Harry is taken care of."

"You have done an amazing job, just look at the pile of evidence that reflects your care." Lord Nott informed everyone, failing to keep his scorn out of his voice.

"Denied the supervision." Minister Fudge ruled. "Lord Malfoy will you be kind enough to inform Professor Snape and Mr. Potter of this new arrangement?"

"I will do so after I leave here." Lucius informed him. He looked quickly to Harry and noticed the boy kept his mask in place.

The rest of the session passed quickly and Lucius, with Harry, were heading towards Madam Bones to see if they could get charges filed on Dumbledore when Dumbledore stepped in front of them. "Lucius, I will gladly inform Severus of the results of today."

"No, I will be doing it. I have to speak to him anyways regarding Draco. Thank you for your concern." Lucius and Harry turned and walk away.

"You know he was going to lie to Severus." Harry told him, quietly as they walk toward the lifts.

"Yes, he is going to try to find a way to get Severus to either give up custody or threaten him."

Harry put his hand on Lucius' arm stopping him, guided him to a quiet corner and tossed up a Muffilio. "Work on getting charges pressed, delay Black being released, I think he is innocent but the old coot will use him to try and get close to me. Start tossing the classes and anything else you can think of to delay him from getting his way in Wizengamot. I want to see about the seats now. We should have them aligned to you."

"He will try and force Severus to assign them to him. You are going to have to help him in that." Lucius warned him.

"I will. I am going to head back now, let me know how it goes with Madam Bones and the Minister when you come and inform us."

"I want to do some digging something he said bothers me, something regarding Peter Pettigrew."

"Let me know if you need help." Harry removed the spell, they headed their separate ways.

Dumbledore headed straight for Madam Bones and was in there when Lucius arrived. "I will come back later, Amelia."

"No, it's fine. It appears that Albus wants to have charges pressed against Severus Snape."

"What charges?"

"Being a Death Eater, he wants him charged for it."

"Well, if Severus is charged, Albus will be charged with treason, for he did state the man was working for him."

"He is trying to say Severus is the reason the Potters were killed and therefore he should be charged." Amelia knew no matter what Albus said to get Severus charged it would lead to treason for Albus.

"Again, the same thing, he knew, he took him as a spy and he gave testimony stating that. Albus didn't you also mention how Severus came to you with the prophecy to get you to help save Lily. So how can you claim he killed them or that you didn't know?"

Dumbledore looked at Madam Bones and Lucius. "I am just doing my duty."

"Amelia, I do believe he is admitting to treason."

"I agree. Let me get some Aurors here."

"No, I am not admitting to treason, I am informing you of Severus' crimes."

"Which we were already aware of, which you gave testimony stating he was your spy and you even acknowledged his role in which you moved the Potter's to Godric's Hollow on his informing you the danger the Potter family was in." Amelia said. "I am sure I can pull the complete transcripts and get it word for word."

Dumbledore glared. Lucius waited to he was leaving before he issued a warning. "You will not speak to Harry or Severus about this. I will be the one to inform them."

"I can speak to my employee and student."

"Yes, you can but you won't mention this, in any way to them. If you do I will bring you up on any charges I can think of." Amelia informed him. "It's Lord Malfoy's decision that you don't speak to them about this and the Ministry granted him the position of informing Severus Snape and Harry Potter."

After he left Amelia looked at Lucius. "That man is crazy."

"Can we bring him up on charges from today?"

"Yes, we are going to work on it, we have to be careful, he is too slippery and well liked."

"I will provide you with whatever I have." Lucius told her. "However, I should get going, I know he is going to try something."

"I agree, I will speak to you later, Lucius." Amelia replied.

Chapter Management

Chapter 9: Poppy, Death Eater

Harry returned to Hogwarts, going straight to the Infirmary, where he found Poppy waiting for him. He gave her a grin as he climbed into the bed. She leaned in close. "Congratulations."

"When is Severus going to be here? Lucius is also coming to speak to us."

"His class will end in about ten minutes. He said he would be up here after his last class." She tucked him into the bed. "Tea?"

"Please." Harry replied, getting comfortable in the bed. He summoned a book and began to read. He was enjoying it until he was engulfed in a hug with hair all over his face.

"Oh, Harry what did you do?" Granger asked.

"Let go of me." Harry warned. He wasn't going to put up with the girl touching him.

"Miss Granger, if you would let go of Mr. Potter I am sure we all would appreciate it." Severus said. He can see Harry was ready to hex the girl if she didn't let him go.

When Harry can finally see, he noticed that Lucius and Severus were standing at the end of his bed. "I was just wondering why Harry is in the infirmary." Granger defended herself. She was still working on trying to get Harry to be her friend. She and Ron weren't having any luck this year.

"It's none of your concern. Now Lord Malfoy and I need to speak to Mr. Potter, do go down to dinner." Severus dismissed her. All of them watched Granger and Weasley leave.

The two men conjured some chairs and sat down. Harry tossed up a parsel warding spell. "So?" Severus asked, eager to hear what happened.

"You have guardianship. However, that being said, Dumbledore is going to come after you hard to get custody. He was in Amelia's office trying to get you arrested for anything he could think of." Lucius gave him a slight smirk, letting Severus know it was handled and the man didn't have to worry about it.

Harry touched Severus' hand as Severus closed his eyes, asked, "any chance he can?" He didn't want to believe they could protect him from Albus "I'll Get My Own Way" Dumbledore.

"No, I didn't have to do a thing, Amelia did it all. She kept mentioning having him arrested for treason. I think her and Fudge want to see the man arrested." Lucius quickly explained what was said. "It was really quite funny seeing him trying to work around her."

"Poppy wants to come to Quirks and Arrows, she knows what we are doing about abused kids, knows that we are Death Eaters but still wants to come. She is very unhappy about what Dumbledore is doing about abuse. She was impressed with how quickly we got a person into that department in the Ministry." Severus informed them, changing the subject as he knew they really didn't have a lot of time before his royal pain showed up.

"Poppy wants to help us?" Lucius asked, surprise clear in his voice.

"I know, I was shocked, I questioned her and she is very serious about it." Severus told him, they looked at Harry, they saw him sitting up and watching Poppy, looking at her closely. They knew what he is doing.

"Bring her, Severus is right. She also knows there will be blood spilled in order to stop Dumbledore and has accepted it. She knows we will try to help the children and keep them safe." Harry lay back down against the pillows. "Vow?"

"She took one." Severus informed him. "She made it even before I left here for the summer holiday. Minerva has helped her with the abuse cases but she is afraid Dumbledore might try something with Minerva. There are just too many memory charms on the woman." He knew there wasn't much they can do to help Minerva currently, but he was hoping in the future they could. She would be a key player if they got her on their side.

"Good. I will speak to her later tonight when I can be sure no one else is around. We will see what we can do about McGonagall. No one should have that old creep messing with their mind." He knew of Severus' concern and he would follow up on Minerva McGonagall. He believed the woman was honest and sincere in her desire for a better world.

"What are we going to do about Dumbledore?" Lucius asked.

"I want Aurors to arrest Hestia Jones after she leaves my shop with those items she ordered. Make sure they are our people, don't want one of Dumbledore's to set her free. That will aid us with the DMLE charges against Dumbledore, as I am sure we can get to mention Dumbledore." Harry started to make some plans, he gave Lucius a small grin as they noticed Severus didn't seem as concerned about Dumbledore any longer.

"Can you get in trouble for selling them to her?" Severus asked.

"No, but they are illegal to use on minors or someone without permission. Lucius is going to go to Madam Bones and let her know that Jones wants to buy the items. Get her to select our people and keep it quiet until Jones is arrested. I believe the woman is an Auror, so explain how you are worried about corruption in the department and how Jones might get warned, even if you have to explain about the Order." Harry explained.

"Amelia will go for it after what she saw today." Lucius added. "She wasn't very happy with how he tried to go around the laws and how he knew about Black not getting a trial." He turned to Severus. "He admitted it in the session, we didn't have to say a word.

Severus looked at Harry and to Lucius. "Do you think Black will give up Dumbledore?" He was wondering exactly how they could use this, and he knew they would eventually.

Before Lucius can answer they could see Poppy coming towards them, Harry removed the privacy ward. "Albus is on his way in." She warned.

Harry nodded his head in acceptance. "So what it means now is that Severus is going to be responsible for your care." Lucius said as Dumbledore appeared next to them.

"Headmaster." Severus and Lucius greet the man. Harry didn't even open his mouth.

"I was just making sure everything is alright." Dumbledore said as a way of greeting them and hoped it would explain his presence in the Infirmary.

"Yes, Harry understands what is happening and seems to be fine with the new arrangements." Lucius explained.

"I am sure. I would like a word with Harry if I may?" Dumbledore asked.

"Why?" Severus began to wonder what Dumbledore would do to Harry if they left Harry alone with him. He knew Harry would kill the man eventually if Dumbledore kept trying to force him places he didn't want to go. Severus thought the man would push the Weasley family on Harry.

"It's nothing important, but I would feel better if I talked to him." Dumbledore answered. He really needed to get the boy on some potions and cast some spells to make him want to come to him for advice and hopefully get the boy to demand to be returned to his relatives, once he found them.

"No, Headmaster, you were warned about this." Lucius reminded him. "This doesn't involve you in any way."

Severus saw Harry tilt his head to the left, letting Severus know he felt a spell hit him. "Albus, if you cast one more spell on Harry, I will be filing charges on you." He couldn't believe that Dumbledore actually did it while they were sitting with Harry.

"I have no idea what you mean." Dumbledore stated, but he started to walk away.

Lucius glared, pulled out his wand and cast a detection spell on Harry and when it's done he read the parchment. "No, I just bet you don't. These new compulsion spells that say your name on them as the caster just appeared out of thin air?" Lucius sent off a Patronus to Amelia informing her of what just happened.

"It's just a slight misunderstanding." Dumbledore smiled them as he saw Severus, Poppy, Harry, and Lucius all had their wands pointing at him. He knew he could beat most of them in a duel, Severus and Lucius would give him a harder time, but it wouldn't be in time for him to memory charm them before Amelia showed up.

No one said a word until the Aurors arrived with Madam Bones almost ten minutes later. "Lucius what happened?" She should have known that Dumbledore would try something. Too many lemon drops had soured the man's brain. The things the man had done, she wasn't surprised any longer by him.

"Headmaster Dumbledore ignored the Wizengamot orders and decided to speak to Harry, while he was trying to get us to allow him to do so, he cast these spells on Harry." Lucius handed her over the list his spell produced.

As Madam Bones was reading the parchment, an Auror cast his own spell and gave the parchment to Madam Bones. "It appears he didn't learn, after your own spell showed what he cast, he decided to see if he could get rid of his magical signature. Arrest the Headmaster." She told the Aurors.

"You can't arrest me, you can't show that I did anything, there is no memory of me using a wand or even saying the spells." Dumbledore stated. It was one of the ways he got away with doing so much, he never used a wand they could see. Wandless magic was hard to prove.

"You don't need to, the ring on your left hand is a wand and you use it as such." Harry informed them.

Aurors grabbed Dumbledore left hand and ran a scan over the rings. "He is correct."

"Use suppressor cuffs and take him away." Madam Bones sighed. "I will be there shortly to start the list of charges."

Again it was quiet until Dumbledore was gone leaving only Madam Bones behind with Lucius, Severus, Harry, and Poppy. "I know he will be free by tomorrow night and nothing will be done but I can save it in our evidence and use it later." She warned them. "I really can't do much to him right now. We will be working on getting him charged in regards to the abuse."

"Every bit helps. Do you need our memories?" Lucius asked.

"As he said memories won't help, but we will get him eventually. I will let you know what charges I try and use on him. Good night." Madam Bones told them and left the Infirmary.

"Now to keep Granger and Weasley out of my sight and my night will be pleasant." Harry grinned, earning him a smirk from Severus.

"I am going to see if I can find more charges for them to use and talk to Amelia about the trap." Lucius informed them and left. He was enjoying working on getting rid of Dumbledore, he couldn't wait for his Lord to return and really take control with him.

"I am going to fill out charts." Poppy said, leaving them alone.

"Do you get the idea they wanted us to be alone?" Severus asked.

"Yes, and it's because Granger and Weasley are now standing outside the door looking in." Harry told him, he looked down at his book.

"Figures. So they will report what they see to Dumbledore, so you yell at me or I yell at you." Severus began to think of the different way to torment the two of them in his class, in the halls and any place else he could find a way to take points from them and give them detentions.

"I think neither, I think you storming away in about a minute will do it. Take points from them." Harry said helpfully.

Severus smirked, he like that idea and he would make sure that the pair would be losing a lot of points. He waited a few more minutes before he turned around and stalked towards the Infirmary doors, his robes billowing behind him. "5 points for ignoring an order about leaving each, 5 points for being in my way, each." Harry heard as he picked up his book, again.

Chapter Management

Chapter 10: Stings Doesn't It

Harry was standing behind the store counter, as Bob Quirks, when Hestia Jones walked in. "Madam Jones, I see you got my message." He knew the Aurors were hiding around his store with a few in the Alley, with Madam Bones poly-juiced as his store assistant.

"Yes." She began to inspect the items Harry started to lay on the counter. "How much?" She turned over the Slipper. Harry can see that she clearly has no idea what the artifacts actually do, he can see the puzzlement on her face. He was wondering how she even knew they were the real ones if she was clueless on what they are.

"Well, the Cat's Cradles I will sell for 26 Galleons, the Mercedes Device, that is just slightly higher at 33 Galleons and a Golden Slipper, that is expensive, its 132 Galleons, so 191 Galleons. Do you still want them?" Harry tried not to sigh. They had Rookwood put a rune on each item, which Harry warded with a parseltongue spell, just in case Jones or Dumbledore got to keep the items.

"Yes. I need them for my boss. He needs them for a minor he is planning on getting custody of." She was still looking at the items and didn't see Harry's face as she said those words.

Harry really couldn't believe the woman mentioned that. She was an Auror. He wondered briefly how the woman made it into the program. She just admitted to a being part of a crime that was going to happen. "You are aware that the use of them on a minor is illegal? Also using them on someone without their knowledge?" He wanted to make sure he covered himself. He didn't want to have them looking into him any more than necessary. He provided the standard warning regarding the sale and use of these items.

"I am sure you won't tell anyone, if you do, I will make sure the Aurors visit you every day all day." She warned Harry. She pulled out her pouch, started to count out the Galleons required. "After all, we never know what kind of clients you have or business you run here." She threatened.

Harry wondered if all Order members were this stupid. Just because his business was in Knockturn Alley didn't mean he was going to put up with being threatened. Harry leaned forward as he said, "don't threaten me, it doesn't work. You might want to reconsider going down this path, it's not worth it." He glared at her. He hadn't given the signal for the Aurors to come out and he was hoping she would provide more information for the Aurors.

"You can't touch Dumbledore and it's your word against his, and we know who's name has more power." She smugly stated. "Your word means nothing against his, or mine for that matter."

Harry didn't say anything for a few seconds, he tilted his head. "Don't come back." He started to wrap the items back up. The Aurors and Madam Bones were clearly still surprised that the woman was stupid enough to mention Dumbledore. Harry didn't think he would get so lucky.

Harry watched her pick up the package and head out. As soon as she stepped into the Alley, Madam Bones gave the signal and Aurors were surrounding Jones. Harry gave Hestia Jones a slight wave of his hand when she turned her head back to glare at him.

A few hours later:

Harry was sitting at his desk, going through the accounts when Lucius finally arrived. Harry looked up as Lucius took a seat opposite him. Harry sent a signal to Severus to join them. Neither said anything until Severus joined them, taking the other seat next to Lucius. "She will be facing the Wizengamot on Monday. Dumbledore tried to get the charges dismissed, but he failed. Madam Bones can't bring charges against Dumbledore because it will be this memory against Dumbledore's denial. Jones wasn't willing to say a word and invoked her rights since the offense is classified as a misdemeanor, Amelia can't force a truth spell or serum."

"Rita?" Harry asked, reading the letter in front of him. He frowned at it, laid it down as he looked at Lucius.

"She was there, I believe it will be making tonight's paper." Lucius replied. "We didn't close the door, so I know more than a few ears were listening." They had left the door opened on purpose, they wanted to get it out and have the rumor mill work for them.

Harry gave the man a little grin. "We need to give Rita more work. I want Rita at the meetings when you submit a change of seats and become Chief Warlock, make sure we get the changes out. I want her to do a series of articles on the laws we will be revoking, passing or even banning. I want her to do another regarding the Board and those changes, once we get everything lined up. Give her a warning as it were. I want the people to view Dumbledore as being stale and old, use the illegal actions he has been caught doing so far. I know she will hint at other actions he might have hidden. Also, hint about the strange happenings at Hogwarts."

"What is Madam Bones going to do about this new information?" Severus asked.

"She knows he will get off again, saying he had no idea, but it will be added to the other information." Lucius paused "Jones will be removed from the Aurors, but nothing else can really be done to her since they can really only get her for abuse of authority, the threats she issued, and of course admitting to the knowledge that those artifacts would be used on a child."

"Well, one less Order member in the Aurors. See if we can work on getting rid of a few more." Harry told him. "Use some of the unmarked followers to gather information on their members, all of their members."

"I can give you a list of the ones I know about." Severus pulled piece of parchment and quill towards him and started a list for Lucius.

"When are you heading back to Hogwarts?" Lucius looked around.

"In about an hour, unless Severus isn't done in his lab." Harry glanced around. "Tom?"

"I am caught up. I don't want us to spend too much time away, the orders that I can do at Hogwarts are on me, and I will brew them later." Severus told him, he went back to the list.

"Belgium is where we are now looking now. It seems like he might be there. We got a match on Nagini's magical signature." Lucius answered. "Rowle and Rookwood are working on getting a few supporters and Rosier will head out there with them. They tried a few summoning spells, even a tracker and nothing worked on finding the Dark Lord."

Harry nodded his understanding, picked up the letter he was reviewing. "It seems someone is nosing around my accounts." He gave Lucius the parchment, who read it and in turn handed it to Severus.

"Only one who could be that interested is Dumbledore. Wonder what he is looking for?" Severus asked.

"I believe he is looking to see if you are using any of my money. I froze the vaults he knows about after I read that. Ironclaw suggested parsel wards up and I agree, so I tomorrow I am going to go and provide them. I will place passwords on them, so even if they do get a sample of my blood, they will have to provide answers to some questions and be able to speak parsel." Harry told them.

"It's only been a week, what in Merlin's name does he think is going on? He heard about the Galleons I received." Severus replied.

Lucius and Harry groaned. "It's not the money, he is trying to find out if you know about all of your vaults and titles. He wants to prevent you from finding out about them. I would have thought the notices he got about the money being refunded would have let him know unless he was seeing if there are more accounts. Have you assigned your seats to me?" Lucius asked Harry.

"I haven't assigned them to anyone, I wanted to wait, I figured if I did it too quickly he would know we were talking and Severus would be endangered." Harry replied. "I was going to file the ones he has no way of knowing later this week, and try to find a way to get the Potter's assigned without him knowing, but after you take the position of Chief."

"If we wait a month or so, have Severus assign them in Gringotts, have Ironclaw seal the voting proxies using Head of Family, your fame, and anything else they can think of then he will never know. He has someone in that department, but we have three in there, so I can make sure one of our people files the forms incorrectly." Lucius told them.

"I can do that with my families after that." Severus added. "If we file to many at once, he might worry and look more into the proxies, so waiting will work. I am not sure if he as anyone in that department that is an Order member, if not he will work on making one of his members contact one, get them under that secrecy agreement he uses. If he can't he might use some in there that aren't members per say but feel they owe him. He is good at making people feel they owe him."

"That Grandfather act he uses." Harry spat out. "Get some more people in that department if you can, I want to keep an eye on that department." Harry thought for a few seconds. "Actually try to get someone in every department."

"I have already started that, got most of the departments covered now." Lucius informed them. He had been working on getting them in there since Harry suggested it.

"Who do we have on the board?" Severus asked, looking at Harry, who gave him a small smirk.

"Nott, Parkinson, Zambini, Crabbe, and me."

"The Chamber will be opened again on Halloween, Diary Tom and I worked that out, so he is ready. Work on spreading some concern about the students safety, at the next meeting, if you can't get an emergency one because of it being opened." Harry told him. "Can he hide it, Severus?"

"I am not sure, he might be able to delay it some, but the students and the other professors will talk and talk always gets out."

"Between all his headlines and something petrified, again, I can get a good start regarding that. If we push it enough, we might be able to get him removed. The headlines will be enough to get most of Board concerned, they don't like headlines." Lucius said.

"The mandrakes won't be ready for use in a potion until the end of the year. I tried to get them planted earlier but I was denied. I said I wanted some mature for some new potions, even showed Pomona the potions. So I am covered if Dumbledore wonders why. I can get my snakes to spread the concern of more being petrified to the other houses." Severus glanced up. "Harry, do you know who she will go for?"

"I told the diary, no killing, and go small. Since we already have the cat petrified, we were thinking of a lower year student, one that the time won't affect their OWLs or NEWTs. We were going to go with another animal but it wouldn't work if we wanted to stress danger. Diary Tom agreed. We agreed on no killing. We don't want to take a chance of them demanding of Hogwarts being closed." Harry told them. "Diary Tom didn't mean for Myrtle to die, it was an accident. Myrtle is going to guard the bathroom and let me know how often Ginny goes down."

"Is there any danger to her?" Severus asked. As much as he didn't like the Weasley family, he felt better that no one was to die and that Harry had taken care of that aspect.

"No, Tom isn't going to possess her, like he was originally designed for. He knows we are working to get his older self-returned, as soon as we do, I am going to steal the diary back. The diary is how we are going to return Tom to his original self. So he doesn't mind waiting. As he said he has waited for a few decades a few months won't make a difference. He did that the Roosters would need to be killed."

"True, if they weren't Dumbledore would wonder what was happening. He would think it was a setup if at the end of the year they were still alive and a Basilisk was revealed." Severus commented.

"Rookwood, Rowle, and Avery have a few ideas on which ritual to use. It will depend on the Dark Lord's condition." Lucius sighed. "Some of the rituals, we will need a ritual chamber for, some we just need a full moon or other requirements."

"I am already working on restorative potions."

Harry turned around, pulled a book toward him. "In there is a potion, it's designed to heal the soul, see if it is what we want or need." He handed the book to Severus.

Severus flipped through the book. "I will let you know."

Harry nodded his agreement. He cast a quick tempus, seeing the time Harry said. "I do believe it's time to return to Hogwarts."

Chapter Management

Chapter 11: Second Year

Harry entered Quirks and Arrows with a scowl on his face. He made it to his desk and sat down, no one wanted to go near him, he looked ready to kill someone. Lucius and Severus entered the room shortly afterward. Severus nudged Lucius as they saw the face Harry was wearing. "Harry?" Severus asked.

Harry looked up. "Weasley is going to die painfully." Harry's magic flared up, causing several glasses to break.

"What happened, Master?" Lucius asked. He didn't want Harry's anger directed at him but he knew they needed to find out what happened if they were to work on getting Harry calmer.

"Weasley actually had the nerve to break into my trunk and use my cloak. I found him putting it back. He tried to say he was just checking it out, but I had been in the dorm room for over an hour before that. I went to take a quick shower and came out to see him putting it back and trying to make my trunk look like he hadn't been in it." Harry paused, slammed his fist down. "He had the nerve to drag Granger into it, saying how he was with her down in the common room, working on homework with her. Neville came into our dorm just for the last part and said that Granger was actually in the library studying."

Severus and Lucius exchanged a quick look, as Harry's magic sent a quill flying across the room. Harry continued, "when Neville said that, Weasley, instead of admitting he was lying, actually went running to his brother Percy and accused us of ganging up on him and bullying him. I just got a week's worth of detentions from Percy."

"Percy gave you a week based on what his brother said?" Severus asked, shocked, Percy wasn't usually one to do something like that. He was too straight and narrow-minded to do something like that.

"Yes, after Ron told him we tried to cast some spells on him. Ron told Percy, we were being mean and tried to stop him from telling him about a conversation he heard us having about pranking some of the others. The rest of the house didn't believe Ron and tried to voice their opinion, but as soon as Percy heard it was some type of prank, Neville and me got a week detention."

"Who did he set them with?" Severus asked. He was wondering if it was another set up by Dumbledore to get Harry alone.

"Oh, he didn't say, but I know who is going to try and claim them." Harry sneered.

"Dumbledore." Lucius and Severus stated.

"I can post an objection to it. It will delay the detention until we can get the board to listen to it." Severus added.

"I can get them to listen to it on Monday if we file it today. I can provide some of them the head's up. Do you want to submit your memory?" Lucius asked. "We also might be able to use the parent at Hogwarts does the punishment rule. Severus is your guardian, so they might go for it."

"Yes, I do. I want Weasley to be outed as the liar he is." Harry stated as he was speaking a phial floated out of Severus' lab and into Harry's hand. Severus cast the spell, sealing the phial and giving it to Lucius. "I need to get some of this magic out."

"Go down into the basement, I believe Rowle set up some dueling dummies down there." Lucius told him. "I will call you up when everyone gets here."

Harry turned, headed towards the basement. "Lucius, should we be worried about that?" Dolohov asked.

"Actually I am surprised he didn't kill someone before he got here." Rowle answered. "Severus, you did a great job teaching him control because he would have killed Weasley last year."

"I agree." Lucius answered. "He would have, he would have made sure no one knew it was him but he would have killed the brat.'

"His power has grown a lot since the blocks are now removed and he learned to control his emotions." Severus was feeling embarrassed about being praised. "I know Weaslette has been following him around and he hasn't lost it on her as of yet."

"Still?" Dolohov asked.

"Yes, she isn't shy about it. I believe Dumbledore promised her Harry or something, I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't try to set up a marriage contract, ignoring the fact that I am Harry's magical guardian."

"That won't be happening, Harry will kill her first." Yaxley added as he and Macnair joined them. "He is in the basement?"

"Yes, blowing up some dummies I believe." Severus said.

"Better them than us." Yaxley responded. "Are we going to duel today or just a regular meeting?"

"I am not sure. There isn't much to discuss." Lucius answered. They usually wrote up anything and left it for Harry to read unless it was really important. After the rest of their fellow Death Eaters went back to their business, Lucius quietly asked Severus. "What are you doing for the Yule holiday break?"

"I believe spending it at my manor. I am not sure if Dumbledore will try and make an appearance or not, but he might try something sneaky. So I am setting up a forwarding floo call from Spinner's End to the manor, and some warning alerts if he shows up at Spinner's End." Severus answered. "He has been trying to get Harry to speak to him and Harry has refused to utter a word to the man."

Lucius smirked but turned his face serious. "Do you think I could spend a few days there? I am going to be filing for a divorce from Narcissa after the holiday. She knows it and is making my life miserable."

"I don't have a problem with it, I am not sure how often I will have to make trips to Spinner's End with Harry because of Dumbledore."

"I can come with you, he won't stick around with me there." Lucius immediately thought about how much Dumbledore would hate that.

"He would hate it." Harry said, causing them to jump as he spoke from behind them. "Let's get the meeting over with, I want to see how everything is going." Harry moved to the center table and everyone started to sit down. "Rookwood, Ministry?"

"Master, Fudge has been speaking to Amelia Bones and John Dawlish, who will be here later, about getting charges against Dumbledore, they have us researching old laws, but so far we have been unable to find anything that would be able to use currently, Dumbledore still has too much power." Rookwood answered. "They are looking into our ancient laws regarding families, guardianship, and mentoring bonds too."

"They have been finding charges they can use correct?" Harry asked, he looked at Lucius, and back to Rookwood.

"Yes, but not anything that would be classified as enough to damage his reputation without getting something major that he can't use for the greater good or war effort." Rookwood answered.

"Lucius, do you know what they are doing?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Master, it's as Augustus said, they are working on the older laws, including some of the from Merlin and the Founders' time, but it's all petty stuff. Anything concerning you, he would say he was trying to protect you and not knowing about issues with the muggles. While we can produce proof, it's not enough that would link him directly." Lucius answered. "That is part of the problem, linking him directly to the crimes without giving him an excuse to escape."

"Is there anything regarding the petrifaction? Has the Board heard anything?" Harry summoned a book to him, handing it to Severus.

"Master, I have heard Dumbledore telling the Board members that it is only a cat petrified, I have been trying to get them to investigate Hogwarts." Lucius answered.

Harry looked thoughtful for a second. "Severus, I know we have the potion for healing anyone petrified, but I am wondering in that book if there is anything we can use that makes someone look petrified, without us letting that batty basilisk out."

"I can review some of the potions in here, and see if I can't modify one to do that, Master." Severus answered. "Most of these would be ones that they wouldn't know."

"Augustus, see if you can find anything in the laws that they are making you review concerning what we needing to be done at Hogwarts, from the missing classes to him hiding things from the public and the Board." Harry stated.

"Yes, Master." Rookwood answered. He made some notes.

"Is there anything else?" Harry asked.

"Master, we have a slight issue with one of the vendors. He wants to increase his prices on his contract. He believes that because we are requiring more of his inks he should get a higher price." Rowle told him.

Harry arched an eyebrow, giving them a slight grin. "Does he really? Well, I believe it's time for me to get us a lower rate. Set him up to meet with me next Saturday, unless he wishes to stick to our current contract."

"I will let him know, Master." Rowle told him. He would tell the guy and hoped he would listen. The guy thought he could get a higher price since they did a large volume when most decreased the price for a larger volume. He looked at the Carrow twins; yes they would be good for helping the man realize he was lucky with the current terms.

"Macnair, docks?" Harry asked.

"All in order, everything has been on time. Import and Export items have met with little resistance." Macnair answered.

"Dark Lord?" Harry asked.

"Belgium was a bust, we are moving to Prague. Nagini wasn't there either, we lost track of her magical signature." Rowle answered.

"Keep looking." Harry told them. "Anything else?" No one spoke. "Great. Head downstairs and start training. Rookwood and Rowle have some new spells to learn. I believe Marco is already down there." Everyone left but Lucius and Severus. "I want a student petrified before we break for Yule, do you think you can get a potion in time for it or should I have that batty snake do it?"

"I am not sure." Severus answered. "I have no way of testing a potion, so while it may work in theory, it might not work exactly how we want it to. I will have to review some of these potions, get some rats, test it but I know I won't have it done by Yule holiday. A theory one, yes, but a guarantee no."

Harry nodded his head. "Lucius, how would the Board react to a student being petrified?"

"If he tells them, they should react with wanting to shut down Hogwarts, which I believe we can avoid and hopefully since I know he won't report it right away, I can use that angle to get him out as headmaster."

"Would they make McGonagall the headmistress?" Harry asked.

"Most likely, but it's not guaranteed."

"I don't want either of them. She believes the man too much; even if she was to be purged I don't think that will change." Harry gave them as smirk as an idea formed. "I want you to wait for a few students to be petrified, we know he will hide it. Use it then, we will have some of our followers' children write letters home, alerting their parents to the weird things happening and have them go to the Board and put up a stink. It will cover you and make him look bad at the same time. I don't want Dumbledore to turn it into a grudge thing."

"We have a lot of Ravenclaws and some Hufflepuffs that would be able to aid in that." Severus stated.

"Good, do it. Now, let's go downstairs and beat everyone in a duel."

"Severus, can I speak to you for a moment?" Dumbledore asked as he entered Severus' office.

"Regarding?" Severus knew the man was going to pull something.

"Harry." Dumbledore said as he took a seat opposite Severus.

Severus looked at the man, wondering why he was in his office and didn't summon him to his own. "What about him?"

"I want to make sure he is safe, so I feel it would be better if he stayed here over the Yule holiday."

"Have you told Harry that? If you haven't, can I be in the room when you do? Because you know how he is going to react to that." Severus stated, gathering some essays into a pile. He knew it would be a good show when the man told Harry that. He also knew the man wasn't going to get his way.

"I would have thought if you told him you wanted to stay, he would." Dumbledore remarked.

"I don't plan on staying." Severus answered. "I have things I need to do, some potions I plan on researching." Some of the stuff he was working on couldn't be done at Hogwarts, the warning wards would sound if he did.

"So Harry will be staying here? Good." Dumbledore rose from his seat as if everything was all settled and since he got his own way, he was happy.

"No, not that I am aware of, he is coming with me. He wants to practice his cutting, and I told him he could help me prepare ingredients for me." Severus answered, watching the man closely, seeing the vein in his forehead start to throb, finally, he won one during their ongoing bet. Harry had won at least once a week.

"I don't think that is necessary, I am sure he would enjoy spending some time here with his friends. Ron and Hermione are staying here over the holiday, and I am sure Harry would enjoy their company." Dumbledore told him.

"Albus, as I stated, if you want him to stay here, you are going to have to ask him. I am not changing our plans because you want him to stay. If he doesn't want to stay, I will not make him." Severus answered. "Now I have a class in a few minutes, I need to head out."

"Severus, you know he won't speak to me. He hasn't this whole year, except the day you got guardianship of him." The bitterness was seeping out in his voice. He had really tried to get Harry to speak to him. He had cornered him in different parts of the Castle and nothing. The boy would look everywhere else but his eyes and refused to speak to him.

"You want him to stay, you get him to agree. As for Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger, you better stop them from bothering Harry, he is still upset at Mr. Weasley for breaking into his trunk and earning him a week worth of detentions."

"He didn't serve anything, it was a slight misunderstanding."

"Albus this is why he doesn't want to speak to you. You have been allowing Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger a great deal of leeway. They have been bullies to Harry. Miss Granger hits Harry, Mr. Weasley breaks into his trunk, and basically steals from him, why do you think Harry avoids them? He doesn't view them as friends, so stop pushing them on him." Severus answered. Harry hated the two of them. It took all of his patience to not hex or curse them.

"That isn't true. They are great friends to him." Dumbledore answered.

Severus shook his head. He really felt like banging his head on his desk but knew the man wasn't going to listen to him. "You want him to stay, you ask him. We are leaving in two days, just like everyone else. Now I need to head to my classroom." Severus walked to the door, stopped to wait for Dumbledore. As the man walked past him, "Albus, a piece of advice, Harry isn't an idiot, don't treat him like one."

"I need him to do his duty, Severus. You know he has to do it." Dumbledore answered, exiting the office.

Severus wanted to curse the man, but he didn't say a word as he walked to his classroom with Dumbledore next to him. "You don't mean to ask him now?"

"Yes, I do." Dumbledore stated. He would get his own way and he would get Harry Potter on his side. The boy needed to listen to him, he still needed to find his relatives and get them back to their old address so he could return the boy there, if not he would place new wards at the Burrow and have the boy stay there, putting a binding ward on him.

Severus wanted to curse the man now. He was going to do it with him right next to him, making Harry think that Severus was fine with Harry staying here or Harry might even take it that Severus wanted him to stay at Hogwarts. He hoped Harry wouldn't answer the man.

As they approached the students in the hall outside his classroom, he could see Granger and Weasley were already bothering Harry. Harry was standing stiffly by the door, his mask frozen on his face. Severus could see Harry was trying to refrain from cursing them. "Harry, my boy, I need to speak to you for a few minutes."

"Get in." Severus said. He looked at Harry and did a small shake of his head, he saw Harry closed his eyes in annoyance, and knew Harry understood what was going to happen.

When it was just Harry with them in the hall, Dumbledore spoke. "My boy, I am telling you that you need to stay here over the Yule holiday. Severus doesn't seem to have a problem with it."

"No." Harry said as he walked into the classroom, leaving Severus behind, trying to cover his surprise at Dumbledore's phrasing and Harry's exit.

"Mr. Potter, come back out here." Dumbledore demanded.

"No." Harry took his seat.

"Detention."

"No." Harry repeated as he started pulling out his books. Severus could see his Slytherins were wondering what was going on, while the Gryffindors were failing to cover their shock at Harry's treatment of their beloved headmaster.

"Mr. Potter." The warning was clear in Dumbledore's voice.

Harry turned, faced them. "I am not staying, you can't make me. I am not serving a detention because you want me to stay and I said no. I am not serving a detention because you don't recognize what the word no means. I am not serving a detention because you fail to respect the fact that I am not your ward nor do you have a say where I spend my holidays, ever. I, also, do not appreciate being lied to. Professor Snape never would make me stay here when if I didn't want to, and he would have a problem with me being forced to stay because you demanded it. If you don't leave me alone, I will withdraw and go to another school. Professor Snape's son and I get along wonderfully and I will join him in France if need be." Harry turned back around and opened his book.

The rest of the classroom was staring back and forth between Dumbledore and Harry. Severus was trying hard to not show how proud he was of Harry. He handled Dumbledore better than anyone he had ever seen. He waited for the old fool to explode, he started to count and knew when he reached ten the man would explode. As he counted he watched the reaction in the man's eyes. "Mr. Potter, my office now."

"If I leave this classroom, I won't be going to your office, I will instead, be heading up to Gryffindor and pack. I will leave Hogwarts." Harry stated without turning around.

"My office now." Dumbledore stated.

Harry got up, packed his bags, started towards the door. "I will see you at Spinner's End?" He asked Severus.

"Harry go sit back down. We will speak after this class." Severus told him.

Harry glared at Dumbledore. "Fine." He re-entered the classroom, the students were watching, the Slytherins in awe and the Gryffindors in shock.

When Dumbledore went to speak again, Severus leaned forward. "He will leave if you keep it up. He didn't even want to stay here after I got guardianship if you keep pushing he will leave.'

Dumbledore looked at Harry. "He can't get away with what he just did."

"You shouldn't have put him in that position. I warned you that he wasn't an idiot. If you thought that lie was going to work, you really don't know him. I will work on him staying at Hogwarts, but Albus, you need to stop." Severus didn't give the man any time to answer and entered his classroom, slamming the door behind him.

"He really tried that?" Lucius asked as he sipped his tea. He had arrived earlier and Harry was in the library researching.

"Yes, Dumbledore spent the last two days trying to get me to stay. Harry ended up winning more Galleons off of me the last two days from the throbbing vein.

"Draco wrote home about it. I laughed so hard I think I had tears in my eyes from it." Lucius told him.

"It was all I could do not to laugh. When Harry said, "I am not serving a detention because you don't recognize what the word no means". I know I wasn't the only one trying not to laugh. After the class, I kept Harry in the classroom, because I knew Dumbledore was most likely watching the room. Harry was furious. I am glad he didn't destroy anything during the class and afterward. He had every right to be furious. I know I was when he lied to him."

"Good thing Harry knows you so well."

"He does, if he didn't, he would have believed that I was going to leave him there, with how he phrased it." Severus answered. "I know he phrased it that way on purpose."

"Did Harry get the batty Basilisk to petrify someone?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, a Muggle-born. He said it took him three tries to find the right person. He didn't want to do anyone that had parents that would make a huge stink like a pure-blood family would or even a half-blood." Severus answered.

"Is Scott Snape going to be making an appearance?" Lucius asked.

"No, I told Dumbledore I was port-keying us there for a few days, to give Harry some time to calm down. He brought it." Severus answered. "Lucius I want to ask you something but I am not sure how to ask it."

"Ask." Lucius answered.

"Why are you divorcing Narcissa? I thought you had a marriage contract?"

"We do, but I caught her cheating again. I warned her last time I wouldn't put up with it. She wants primary custody of Draco, I refused, so now she is turning it nasty. I asked for joint custody."

"How did Draco take it?" Severus asked.

"We haven't told him yet, we are going to wait until after Yule." Lucius answered. "I just didn't want to be in the Manor with her. She has been living in Italy."

"Where will she be living afterward?" Severus asked.

"I don't care as long as it isn't in any Malfoy property, another thing she is being prissy about, but I did tell her she could have her dowry back, and one of the smaller vaults."

"More than generous, considering."

"I thought so, I just hope she doesn't try and turn Draco against me, she has always babied him. I know we spoiled him, but she has babied him too much."

Severus didn't respond as he agreed with his friend's assessment, he was saved from saying anything else as Harry entered the room. "Severus, the freezing aspect in the freezing charm is that something that is tied to the charm itself or can it be removed and revamped?"

"I think you need to explain it a bit more before I can answer that." Severus answered. He wondered what Harry was working on.

"I know the spell freezes the person in place, what I want to know is if I can add certain aspects to it, like a spell that could freeze someone in place at the same time bind them, so if the freeze part breaks they are still bound, but I don't want to be casting two spells to do it. So I am wondering if the freezing aspect of it is something I can add to, like a congregated verb format."

Lucius and Severus exchanged a quick look. "I am not sure, that is something I never thought of before." Severus answered. "Since the word is already congregated it could be possible. I have some language dictionaries on the bottom left-hand corner of the third bookcase on the right wall."

"Found them, it is what gave me the idea." Harry answered. "I will go and see what I can come up with regarding the different formats." Harry left them behind.

"Are we sure is he only twelve?" Lucius asked.

Severus didn't answer. "I better order some more dummies."

Lucius laughed.

Chapter Management

Chapter 12: Second Year part 2

Harry was pacing inside the potion lab. He had come down to the dungeons to escape the younger Weasleys and Granger. They had been hounding him since they had arrived by train the first night back after the Yule holiday. He turned around when the door opened, groaned. Malfoy. "What do we have here? Potty caught in the dungeons."

"Leave Malfoy. I am not in the mood for you." Harry warned. He couldn't understand how this brat was Lucius' son. The kid was an annoying gnat and it was all Harry could do at times not to step on him.

"Oh, someone got King Harry in a bad mood. What didn't they polish your crown this morning in Gryffindork? Weasel didn't worship you when you got out of bed." Malfoy commented, causing his two goons to let out a small laugh.

"I am warning you, Malfoy." Harry was working on control his emotions but the gnat caught him when his emotions were already frayed.

"Mr. Malfoy I do hope you aren't causing a problem?" Severus said as he stepped into the lab. He could see Harry was about ready to hurt his godson. Harry was correct, Draco had no self-preservation skills. He wasn't sure what made him come down to the labs, but he was thanking Merlin he did, because based off of Harry's mood, Draco would be dead. Harry also knew how to cover up a dead body.

"He is the one in our territory." Draco informed his godfather. "If anyone is causing problems it's him."

"He is also my ward. He is down here working on potions with me. Not that I need to explain this to you, as I have already informed those in Slytherin House, he is my ward and he would be down here. Harry, go and start gathering the ingredients for healing potions for the Infirmary." Severus saw Harry head toward the potion ingredients closet. Severus walked closer to Draco. He glared at Crabbe and Goyle, who wisely moved towards the door. "Draco, are you trying to get yourself hurt?"

"Potty can't hurt me, Uncle Severus. Besides, it is three against one. It's our word against his." Draco told him. "It's not like he is Dumbledore's favorite, that title belongs to the Mudblood and the blood traitor."

"What have I told you about that word?" Severus snapped. "Detention tonight with Filch." When Draco went to protest he added, "Be thankful I am not taking points and having you inform your housemates why points would be missing."

Draco closed his mouth. "I can't believe you want to spend time with Potty." He turned, sneered at Harry as he was carrying some of the required ingredients towards the large cauldron that Severus usually left set up for healing potions.

"Draco, I have warned you. Your father has warned you, leave Potter alone." Severus reminded his godson of the numerous times he had been warned. "He is my ward. I will spend time with him, just as I spend time with you."

"Uncle Severus." Draco whined. "Why are you protecting him? You know the Dark Lord wants him dead."

Severus arched an eyebrow at him. How his godson could be so clueless? Didn't he even sense the danger or the power that Harry had? Why didn't the boy listen to their warnings? Why didn't he read between the lines like a true Slytherin would? He wondered at times how Draco got into Slytherin. "Draco, use that brain of yours and think for a change."

Draco looked at Potter, glanced at his godfather. "You want to turn him against the old man." Draco said. He didn't think it would work but if it got them some of the golden boy's fame, he didn't mind using the fool. He would never be Potty's friend, but he had no problem using him until the Dark Lord killed him.

Severus doesn't answer, as he felt if that would work and save his godson's life, he would allow it. He knew the only reason Draco hadn't been seriously hurt was because of Lucius and him. He also knew that Harry would hurt the boy if he didn't leave him alone. "Go to your dorm and finish your assignments. Your detention will be at 7."

Draco didn't respond but left the room with his bookends that clearly weren't ever going to amount to anything beyond protecting Draco. Severus waited until the door was closed and went to the cauldron where Harry was already preparing ingredients. "What happened?"

"They happened." Harry snarled. "They have been even pushier since we got back from the holiday. Weaslette actually started following me around the halls and in the common room tries to sit next to me. The other two will actually sit next to me until she arrives and then one of them will move. Did you see at meals now I have one of them across from me and the other two bookend me?"

"I noticed, I had wondered what was going on." Severus answered. "I saw Granger basically sit on Longbottom's lap tonight."

"Yes, and she actually did sit on Thomas' in the common room. Earned a few jeers." Harry responded. "The biggest thing is that they keep harping on the old man. How I need to listen to his guidance, get his advice for my electives next year, and they want me to speak to him regarding anything I might have heard."

"Heard? You don't think they know you are a parselmouth?" Severus asked.

"I think the old man is hoping so. He wants to find some kind of connection to the Dark Lord and use that as a way to scare me and have him protect me. Well, that is what Granger thinks. Weasel thinks that I am an evil snake speaker they can oust me and not have to be my friends any longer, despite them getting paid for it. Weaslette believes that if I am one, they can use the isolation the students will surely do as a way for them to get closer to me. Oh, something about having Lockhart start a Defense Club, and using you to push me and Malfoy into a duel. Granger thinks the grand head idiot there will be able to get you to pick your godson over me. Something about how Malfoy will need a stronger hand and how you will need to spend more time with him, offsetting the influence of his father. I expect you will be called into a meeting regarding it."

"I already was. I got called in during my free period this morning. I got the whole must protect Draco from being a future Death Eater, saving his soul. Lockhart already got approval for the Defense Club, I am to assist in it." Severus told him.

"It would be better if you taught it. You need to teach the rest of them defense, have you seen the man's latest work? He gave us a quiz on his greatest adventure and tried to get me to act it out with him. Weasley did it instead, the girls loved it. Granger was the only one to get all of his quizzes correct." Harry told him. "Detention with him includes stuffing envelopes for his signed autographed photos. He has tried to get me into a detention and wants to give me lessons on how to keep my fame from dying, as long as I don't take his title of the best smile or something he earned for the last five years." Harry made a face at the very idea.

"The man is a fraud." Severus reassured him. "I am not even sure why or how he got hired."

"I knew that the first day. His quiz on that day asked us his favorite color. I am wondering if he was to be this year's test but I beat the old fool to the testing, instead." Harry pondered that for a few minutes as Severus counted his stirring. "You don't think he was expecting me to oust that fool as a fraud?"

Severus counted in some of the frog's liver he had set aside before he answered. "He could have expected that. You do have the highest marks in defense. He was expecting you to have those marks by the way."

"Figures. I had wondered about some of the things he has done." Harry chopped up some garlic and as he did, he pushed it over to where Severus could just add it to the cauldron at the correct time.

"You were close to hurting Draco." Severus didn't form it as a question. He knew it was a true statement.

"Very. He has no self-preservation. Anyone and I do mean anyone, else would know you don't try to antagonize someone who is ready to explode."

"I agree. Draco, however, has always had everything handed to him. Narcissa refused to allow Lucius to discipline him and now that they are getting a divorce, I feel it will get worse. Draco does what he wants when he wants and how he wants. He has never had to deal with the consequences of his actions. So when you do retaliate against Draco, try and be easy on him, for Lucius and me." Severus knew Harry would try and that was all he would expect out of him. Harry had improved his control over his emotions but they weren't buried or ignored like he could do at times when it was required, that would come with age and experience. Harry was very smart, wasn't afraid to learn but Harry had a temper. Severus knew Harry got it from Lily.

"I have been keeping that in mind. Trust me, he almost got hexed when he came in here." Harry sat down on a stool. "Severus."

"Yes?" Severus looked up. He saw Harry was clearly worried about something. "What is wrong?"

"I feel like we are doing something wrong. I am not sure what, like we are missing something vital." Harry told him.

"Why?"

"I don't know, it's something Granger is hiding. Something she feels really smug about, Weaslette knows it too."

Severus thought for a few minutes. "Harry, when we were at Gringotts, Ironclaw didn't mention any marriage contracts did he?"

"No. I would hope he would have." Harry answered.

"He would have, that only means that the old fool is going to try and get me to either sign one or when Sirius Black gets released, force Black to go for custody and he will get Black to sign off on one. Black is in his pocket, so the man would do it if Dumbledore phrased it correctly." Severus put down his knife and focused on regain control of his emotions thinking about Black was never a good thing.

"Can we prevent it?" Harry asked. He wasn't sure what the status of Black was, but there was no way he was going to live with that man. No way was he going to allow him to have any say in his life.

"I believe we will need to speak to Lucius." Severus answered. "He will have some ideas of what we can do."

"This weekend. I will also see if I can find out any more information from the morons."

"You haven't called them that in a while." Severus joked.

"I had some other names I thought of them has, but would be impolite to say them out loud." Harry smirked. He enjoyed seeing Severus joked and relaxed. He wasn't the same man he was six months ago.

"Thank you I wouldn't want to take points off for language." Severus grinned. They knew he wouldn't take points off, he would just say "language" and move on.

"I did hear from Lucius. The Board got a few more letters regarding the petrified students. He is pushing for the removal of Dumbledore. However, he is having a problem with Fudge, it seems the man wants to be seen doing something so he is aiming to arrest Hagrid for the crimes."

"The man is an idiot." Harry commented.

"Dumbledore will protect him." Severus reassured Harry. While Hagrid may be a Dumbledore lover, the man was innocent in so many ways and used by Dumbledore to enforce the idea of him being a kind old man.

"I am aware, I just wish Fudge wasn't such an idiot." Harry sighed. "I don't want Hagrid hurt because of this but I realize there is nothing we can do either. Dumbledore will protect him, thankfully."

"I agree. Hagrid will be fine, he actually might even be cleared after this. If another student is petrified while he's away, it will allow him to be viewed as innocent. When at the end of the year, we end this trial, Hagrid might even be able to finish his education if he wants, he will be able to get a wand if he takes his OWLs."

Harry smiled at that plan. "We know he won't take his OWLs."

"I find I am in agreement with you again. He won't unless we encourage him otherwise, we know Dumbledore won't." Severus can see the plans already starting to form in Harry's head. He was glad he could cheer him up. "What do you have planned for the end of the year?"

Harry gave him a huge grin. "Now why would I tell you that plan and ruin the surprise?"

"Brat, I owe you another three galleons."

"That many times already?"

"Yes, something about Granger's essays only having her name on them?" Severus asked.

"She took my work and changed it around to be hers. I used the truth ink you invented, so that is why the words disappeared. It's also why Weasel couldn't turn in his potion assignment. He lost a few paragraphs that she added."

"I had wondered about that."

Lucius sat down in his usual seat in front of Harry's desk. Harry didn't look up. "Bad news?"

"Depends." Lucius answered. "Black's trial was yesterday, he got him out. It appears Pettigrew is alive. The good news is that Black has to attend at least a weekly session with a mind healer for a year before he can be considered for a position in the Auror department again. He can't go for guardianship until he has the position. I did get Amelia to agree to this, Black can't use any mind healer that Dumbledore recommends or if Dumbledore speaks to the mind healer once, the process starts all over. She doesn't want Dumbledore to use his influence to get Black out of treatment sooner. She also informed them that if he misses a session he will need to start again and if at the end of a year, the healer doesn't feel he is ready, he can set up another time limit."

"Interesting." Harry commented. "I am taking it Dumbledore wasn't happy about this?"

"No, he tried to get Lupin to be in charge of Black's rehab but Fudge intervened and denied the request."

"Fudge does have some uses." Harry cast a quick privacy spell. "Hagrid?"

"Will be released on Monday, he is in the Ministry holding cell, now. Dumbledore is calling for a review of his case from fifty years ago."

"Can you let it slip to Hagrid, via someone he might trust that Dumbledore didn't get him off or stop Fudge from arresting him?"

Lucius thought for a few minutes "I have a few people in mind that could do it. Maybe mention it to Poppy also."

"I think she will be mentioning it on her own. She gave the man an earful when Hagrid was arrested." Harry smirked at the memory of Poppy telling Dumbledore off when he turned up in the Infirmary because of one of Dumbledore's pets getting hurt during a potion accident. Harry just happened to be delivering some potions to her at the time. Dumbledore never saw him. "Did he mention anything about a marriage contract?"

"No, but Black's thoughts were all over the place, no way could that man make one right now. He kept referring to you as James, which blew Dumbledore's plans for saying the man was sane and got us the year." Lucius told him. "I have told Ironclaw about it, and he said the goblins won't sign off on anything until they speak to us."

"Good." Harry let out a sigh of relief, he didn't want to end up married to someone Dumbledore would pick and he would bet that man would either select Granger or Weaslette, Weaslette being the first choice.

"Dark Lord?" Lucius asked. He knew they didn't have a lot of time. He had been delayed in getting here this morning because of Narcissa and her whining about the divorce.

"No luck. They are still searching. Rookwood mentioned looking into some of the older scrolls and seeing if he could find something we can use." Harry answered.

"Is Severus down in the lab?" Lucius knew the man was, the man would live in one if they allowed him to.

"Yes, he got some new ingredients from China he wanted to put away. He should be up here soon, we need to return to the Castle."

Lucius picked the accounting books that were off to the side on Harry's desk, along with the money pouches, he knew he would have to make a trip to Gringotts to deposit the funds. "Next week?"

"Yes, if we need to speak sooner I will send a message. End of the month we will end this year's trial. Hopefully, we can stop Dumbledore from returning."

"I am hoping, but I am not sure. While there are a lot of Wizengamot members up in arms about him hiding the facts concerning Hagrid, and other areas, so many still believe he is the best form of protection." Lucius shook his head at how stupid the sheep could be.

"It's worth a try, we will get him eventually." Harry told him as he stood up. "Let me go and get our Potion Master so that we can head back before we are missed."

"Harry." Diary Tom greeted him down in the Chamber. He looked over at Ginny and saw she was unconscious on the floor.

"Hi Tom, are you ready?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I got her to get the diary." Diary Tom said he glanced to the one in Ginny's hand.

"The initials?"

"Easy, she was able to go to Diagon Alley. I had her steal a Poly-Juice Potion from Severus' supplies. She went as the old man. I found a hair on the back of his chair in the Great Hall." Diary Tom answered. "How is the search going?"

"Slow, but we are hoping this will get him ousted for a bit from Hogwarts. Hagrid is now doubting him slightly, not that he knows that." Harry walked over to Ginny. "Potion?"

"Yes, another one of Severus'." Diary Tom answered. "She will sleep for about another two hours."

"Good, I lost Weasel at the cave in. Lockhart was an idiot and tried to use Weasel's broken wand on us." Harry informed him. "Myrtle did an excellent job of pretending to not know what was going on."

"I have spent a few hours a week speaking to her. She forgave me for accidentally killing her. She said after this she is going to release her spirit." Dairy Tom told him. "What do you want to do with her? What story are you going to use?"

"I am going to wait for a bit longer, drag her back to the cave in. Tell them I killed the poor mad Basilisk, with a fang." ~Maddy can you bite the fake diary?~

~Will you visit me still?~ The ancient snake asked.

~Yes, and so will Diary Tom. We can't over the summer but next school year I can leave him down here at times to keep you company.~ Harry told her.

~I can stay the summer, I don't mind it. We can explore the tunnels and make sure everything is in good shape.~ Diary Tom stated.

~You will?~ Maddy's tail hit a column. ~Oops, I got excited.~

They laughed and spend the next hour having small explosions in the different areas Maddy told them about. Diary Tom told Harry how he was looking forward to spending time with his old friend. Harry also provided a way for them to talk by using a diary he created for them. "I added some runes to it, which I know you felt, it's now connected to my diary, so I will be able to write to you." He explained.

Soon their time was up. ~Maddy, I need you to make a ruckus, let them hear you hissing, sound angry. Ignore my screaming.~

~I can use the tunnels around them, they will see a bit of me, and hear me.~ The giant snake was going to enjoy this, she didn't like to hurt anyone, as she was now becoming saner as she spent with the boys. She felt bad about killing the girl and that was what started her insanity. The girl, Myrtle, now forgave her. She headed off into the tunnels, chuckling, and hissing to scare the trapped ones.

"I will start dragging her down the tunnel." Harry told Diary Tom. "You are all set?"

"Yes, I am. Thank you, Harry. Keep me up to date on finding my older self?" Diary Tom asked.

"I will. I will see you when I get back." Harry looked down at Ginny and picked her up by the shoulders, leaving her legs to drag down the tunnel. He could hear Maddy making a racket and when he was in place he hissed that its time and flinched as she let out a blood-curdling shriek.

Harry waited until he heard Ron stop screaming his name in response, in between screaming for his sister. He waited another ten minutes or so, went to the opening in the collapsed ceiling. "Weasley, I got her. She is unconscious, so I am going to have to make the hole bigger to get her out."

"Is she alright? Please tell me she is alright." Harry wanted to roll his eyes at the boy.

"She is fine, no blood or anything." Harry answered.

"I will start digging on this side. I was earlier but Lockhart is out of it." Weasley answered. In short order, they were all on one side and standing at the bottom of the entrance. "How are we going to get up?"

"Not sure, we can't carry your sister." Harry answered. Suddenly they heard a squawk and Fawkes was next to them. The bird looked confused but happy to see them. "I think we found our way out."

"No, Albus, they are resting. You can speak to them afterward." Poppy couldn't believe the man. He had kept Harry in his office demanding answers from him after Weasley supplied his side of the story.

"I need to know what happened down there." Dumbledore told her. He wasn't sure if he believed the story Harry had given him and wanted to really speak to Ginny to find out what she knew. He couldn't believe the silly girl wrote in that diary. Weasley backed up part of the story but he wasn't with Harry the whole time.

"When they wake up." She informed Dumbledore again, she shooed him out of the Infirmary and made her way over to Harry's bed. She knew he was awake, her wards had told her that.

"He really doesn't want to speak to me, he wants Weaslette to confirm what I told him. Too bad, she can't." Harry gave her a smirk.

"I know why do you think she is still asleep? I gave her a Dreamless Sleep Potion." Poppy gave him a matching smirk. "She won't wake up until you are already on the Hogwarts Express."

"I love you." Harry told her.

Poppy laughed.

Chapter Management

Chapter 13: Annoyances

Severus and Lucius were sitting in the chairs near the fireplace while Harry was at a desk researching some more spells. Severus was reading his potions magazine and Lucius was sipping some wine when they heard a chime. "Dumbledore is at Spinner's End, again." They were all weary of Dumbledore's visits.

"How many times is that this week?" Harry asked. Term ended two weeks ago, Severus had spent most of it at Hogwarts closing down the labs and cleaning things up for next year.

"Four and it's Wednesday." Lucius snapped as he stood up. "I was actually relaxed."

They all got up and headed to the floo. Harry was grumbling about meddlesome old men and how he wanted to fit him with a hug me jacket. They flooed to Spinner's End, Lucius and Harry picking up their discard books, ones they had left as props, as Severus headed to the door. "Albus, what do we owe the honor of you visiting us, again?"

Dumbledore stepped through the door and into the room, he hesitated a bit at seeing Lucius in the sitting room, again. "I was wondering if perhaps we could discuss Harry visiting Sirius at St. Mungos. It would do wonders for him to be able to see his godson."

"No." Harry said from where he is sitting.

"Harry, he is your godfather." Dumbledore said. "He is going through a rough time and needs your encouragement."

"He should have thought of that before he tried to murder the rat instead of taking care of me. He should have thought of that before attacking Severus and Lucius and calling me James." Harry answered without looking up from his book.

"Severus what have you been telling the child?" Dumbledore admonished.

"It was in the paper. Rita reprinted everything from the past." Harry answered. "It's amazing what reading can do." Failing to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. Last week, in an attempt to get Dumbledore from repeatedly bothering them, they had encouraged Rita to dig up the old stories, review the court records from Sirius' trial, and Harry's guardianship hearing.

Lucius wanted to glance up from his book and look to see if the vein was throbbing or not, but resisted the temptation. "Albus, we are on holiday. You can't keep arriving unannounced every day. You were here twice yesterday." Severus told the man. He had already had the Sirius Black debate with Dumbledore before he left Hogwarts and Sunday's visit sealed his views on the Mutt when Dumbledore actually arrived with Sirius. The events after Sunday night turned into making sure they didn't kill the mutt in front of Dumbledore.

**********************************Flashback*********************************

They had been at the Manor since late Friday night and it was now Sunday. The chime was telling them that Dumbledore was at Spinner's End. "Already?" Lucius asked. "You have one full day at home, what could he possibly want?"

"He is going to be a pain in my arse." Harry muttered.

"Language." Lucius and Severus said at the same time.

"Well he is." Harry told them as they all headed to the floo.

"You can say it differently." Severus reminded him. "Swearing just demeans your vocabulary skills and makes you look like a dunderhead."

"You also use a dictionary like people read books." Lucius added.

They arrived at Spinner's End. Harry passed a book to Lucius as they each took a seat on the two extra chairs in the room, leaving Severus' favorite chair empty as well as the couch. Severus headed to the door. "I know he is going to do something stupid." Harry warned Lucius.

Lucius didn't respond, he agreed that Harry assumption would be correct, they heard Severus say, "no, he is not welcomed here." It was confirmed the man did something stupid.

"Severus, Sirius just wants to visit Harry. He is his godfather." They heard Dumbledore reply. Ever since the man was released, Rita and the Daily Prophet had a weekly or more in the papers giving updates on everything about Sirius Black, including his mental state and what he needed to accomplish in order to return as an Auror. They even reprinted the articles concerning him during the first war, including the attack on Godric's Hollow.

"No. I won't have that mutt in my house." Severus said. Harry and Lucius heard the hatred of Black in Severus' voice, and since they knew the truth, they didn't blame Severus. The coldness was there that Severus used to have in his voice was back.

"Mutt?" Harry asked. He would have to speak to Severus after Dumbledore and his pet sheep left. He wondered why Severus called Black, Mutt.

"No idea." Lucius answered.

"Severus, let's talk about this inside, we don't need to speak about it on the front lawn." Dumbledore tried. Dumbledore gave Severus no choice but to let them in.

"What is he doing here?" Sirius snarled at seeing Lucius sitting in the chair opposite Harry. Harry got up and left the room.

"Harry?" Dumbledore tried to stop Harry from leaving. Harry ignored him, headed up the stairs to where his room was.

"Happy, now?" Severus said. "Lucius has been staying here. As I am sure you read the paper about his divorce."

"I won't have my godson hanging around with Death Eaters. It's bad enough he is staying here with Snivellus but to subject him to a Malfoy at the same time. I won't have it." Sirius yelled. He stomped to the bottom of the stairs, yelled up. "James, get your things, you are leaving. There is no way you are staying here with two Death Eaters."

"Sirius." Dumbledore tried to warn Sirius.

"James, come on. You know you don't want to stay with Snivellus." Sirius yelled up the stairs again. "I will go and get him. We are leaving. No Marauder would ever be willing stay here."

"No." Dumbledore said as Lucius went to the floo and called, "House Bones, Amelia's office."

Severus wasn't so kind, he pulled out his wand. "Go up those stairs, Mutt, and I will stun you." He warned. He turned to Dumbledore. "He needs to go and get help. Harry isn't James."

Sirius whirled around. "What have you done to James? Why is he hanging out with Death Eater scum like the two of you? He would never willingly hand out with you or that blond ponce."

Dumbledore can see Amelia's face in the floo and he realized this was a horrible mistake. "Sirius, you saw Harry, he is fine, let's get back to your house."

"No, you said we would be taking him out of here. You told me that you would make sure he wouldn't be staying here beyond tonight. You even have Molly ready with potions to help him."

"What potions?" Severus asked, as Lucius pulled out his wand, aimed it at Dumbledore.

"Nothing, but some healing ones." Dumbledore tried to reassure Severus.

"You said they would purge him of whatever Snivellus has given him to make him loyal to Snivellus. You said that James is under some kind of control spell or potion. You told me, we would make sure he was leaving tonight and he will be. Letting a Malfoy near my godson, much less Snivellus should be outlawed. Death Eaters should all be in Azkaban." Sirius yelled. He saw Severus wand pointed at him. "What's the matter, Snivellus? Too afraid to do anything to me, like normal? James shouldn't have stopped Remus from attacking you after I sent you to find Remus. You should be werewolf food if James hadn't stopped it. I thought James hated you as much as I did. I wouldn't have told him otherwise, that certainly would have prevented you from having my godson in your house."

Severus stunned the man. "Amelia, I want him charged." He heard Lucius say.

"I already have Aurors on the way. We will be investigating that what he said. I want you to take Mr. Potter to Gringotts and get a Certified Health Certificate to prove that you aren't giving him potions." She put up her hand. "I know you haven't but it will stop the gossip. Headmaster Dumbledore, you were warned about bringing Mr. Black near Mr. Potter until he was deemed mentally stable. I will be bringing this up in Wizengamot and getting a restraining order issued if I have to."

She didn't get to continue as Aurors walked through the front door. Lucius and Severus were relieved to see no one from the Order. "Take Sirius Black to St. Mungos. He is to be confined there until his mind healer releases him. Escort Headmaster Dumbledore back to Hogwarts. You have been warned, Albus."

Dumbledore glared at the Aurors as they obeyed her orders. He turned at the door. "It was for the greater good. Sirius needed to see Harry."

No one said anything until he was gone. Lucius inhaled deeply as he said, "I know, he is the Teflon man, nothing sticks to him." Surprising Severus with the Muggle reference, he didn't think Lucius knew much about Muggles.

"Sadly, yes. He created the situation. However, I don't think he realized how unstable Mr. Black truly is." Amelia said. "Do you wish to get a restraining order for either of them?"

"Black yes, but it won't work with Dumbledore, he is the Headmaster and we have to interact with him." Lucius answered.

"I will get it started. It will take a while, as I will need your memories, including the incident he spoke about regarding Mr. Lupin, and the certificate." Amelia said. "Once I get all of that I can work on getting the restraining order. I will have to make sure to slip it in during a session he won't attend."

"Thank you, Amelia." Lucius said. The floo was shut down.

"That worked out well." Harry said from the stairs.

"Indeed." Severus grinned.

***************************End Flashback*****************************

Dumbledore inwardly sighed. He needed to get control of the situation. "I was checking to see if you were going to go to France to visit your son. If so, Harry can stay at the Burrow while you are gone."

"Harry will be coming with me, we are leaving shortly and will be gone for a few weeks. I want to gather some potion ingredients." Severus didn't lie per se, after all, they are leaving Spinner's End and they won't be back for a few weeks and he was always gathering potion ingredients.

"You can't take Harry out of the country." Dumbledore told him. "You know that."

"Why?" Severus asked. "He has a passport." He knew Harry did, they had filed the paperwork during their Yule holiday.

Lucius was wondering why also, Harry looked at Dumbledore, started glaring. Lucius can see the anger on his face. If he saw it, he knew Severus had. "Albus, what is this visit about?" Lucius asked.

"Sirius needs to see Harry. I can nip him over there and have him back before you know it." Dumbledore told them.

Harry looked ready to explode. Lucius stood up. "Harry, why don't you go upstairs, we need to speak to Albus alone." Harry got up, leaving the room. "What is really going on Albus?" Lucius tried again.

"Nothing, I am concerned about Sirius and want to aid in developing the godparent bond that is weak." Dumbledore said. "Sirius needs Harry."

"No you don't. You are not going to use that ritual on Harry, especially without our permission." Severus told him.

"Albus, if you show up here before the new term starts I will seek to get a temporary restraining order on you for harassment of a minor. If I find you have done any rituals, given Harry any potions or cast a spell towards the boy I will begin legal proceedings against you." Lucius knew the ritual that Dumbledore wanted to use and it was one that would bind Harry and Sirius together and allow Sirius to control Harry until he was of age. It was originally designed for when an unruly child needed to have someone take control over them, it was part of a godparent's bond that would allow that. Since they couldn't rely on the parents because it was viewed that the parents were the reason the child was unruly in the first place. The godparent was considered the next best thing. The ritual wasn't common any longer because some godparents abused the power over the child, stealing their inheritances, or even marrying them to someone for their own profit.

"It would aid Harry and Sirius. They both need to have that bond strengthened." Dumbledore told them. "You're not going to deny Harry his only godparent." He tried to look saddened at the idea of them doing something so spiteful as to deny a godparent bond.

"We aren't denying him his godparent, as you put it. We are protecting him from a man who is crazy. He doesn't even realize Harry isn't James. Did you hear him the other night? He wanted Lupin to attack me that night. He isn't stable." Severus was still upset, about how Dumbledore handled the attack by Lupin.

"That is why he needs Harry. This ritual will help get him stable." Dumbledore told him. "I will leave the book for you to review and you will see."

"No." Severus told him. "You know how I feel about the Mutt and all you are doing is destroying anything that Harry might consider good about the man by doing this."

Lucius headed back to the floo. Dumbledore seeing where Lucius was heading said, "you are doing them both a great disservice but if your mind is made up I will leave and I shall see you two weeks before the start of term."

"Don't send owls either, Albus." Lucius warned. "Unless you can prove that you do this to the rest of your staff."

Dumbledore's vein is throbbing, but he bid them goodbye and left.

"He's gone." Severus said after the wards alert him that Dumbledore was off of his property.

"Now let's have a relaxing and profitable summer." Harry said from the stairs. They knew Harry had been standing on the stairs listening. They also knew it was Dumbledore's idea about the ritual that got Harry angry.

Chapter Management

Chapter 14: Third Year

"He what?" Harry asked as Severus returned from the first staff meeting for the new year. They were at the Manor and next week, Severus would be returning to Hogwarts, and Harry the following week with the rest of the students. He had done his school shopping as Scott Snape again to avoid the moron twins.

"He actually hired Remus Lupin to teach DADA this year." Severus was furious. "I tried to stop it, even Minerva agreed with me. She didn't feel it would be good, as he would need time off during the month." He felt like throwing something. "He wanted to bring the Mutt in for those lessons but before we could object, he informed us that the Ministry and Board rejected that idea."

"Anyway I get out of that class?" Harry asked. He didn't want to deal with another friend of his parents. "I know if you don't pass your OWLs, you can't go into your sixth year."

Severus grinned. "There is, I have a dual mastery, I can pull you from it, and teach it to you as you are my ward. Dumbledore won't like it, and most likely demand someone else tests you, but I think Lucius can work on that angle. He might try to prevent it, but previous professors have done it with their wards and children."

"Good, I don't want to deal with his plots this year." Before Harry could continue, Lucius stepped into the room. They had heard the floo and knew he had arrived.

"Harry, I need you to sign this, it's a magical restraining order against Black, Dumbledore wants to bring him to Hogwarts, under the care of Lupin. He is hoping to get Black close to you. Madam Bones warned me, she is all set to process the paperwork." Lucius looked at Severus. "Another problem, Marco was in Diagon Alley, he heard Ginny Weasley telling Granger that Dumbledore is going to have Black sign a marriage contract for you, once Black is at Hogwarts. I already spoke to Ironclaw and Madam Bones regarding this. If it gets submitted, all Severus has to do is declare it invalid, since he is your guardian, with some interesting side effects. Ironclaw will let us know as soon as it is submitted to them."

"No, he doesn't mean to do one of those?" Severus was surprised. He didn't think Dumbledore would be deranged enough to try one of those.

"Yes, he does, according to Marco, who was waiting for Thorn in the bookstore, Ginny Weasley was bragging how it would be a very favorable absolute contract for her. The interesting thing, Marco said, was that Granger mentioned being able to get their money back from Harry." Lucius had a feral grin on his face. He knew the Dark Lord would be proud of their work and networking of spies and allies.

"What is an absolute contract?" Harry asked, wondering what he was missing. "What side effects?" He really hadn't researched anything regarding marriage contracts and how they worked, he was just thirteen and he knew Severus wouldn't sign one without speaking to him first.

"An absolute contract was originally used when two feuding families wanted to unite their families under a banner of peace, a binding when one Lord took over another's land in a feud or alliance for some reason from stopping a war to gaining power. It was rarely used to keep an unruly future spouse under control. Those contracts make one person in charge, completely in charge, as in the wife will have no say in the marriage. They can't even speak if the person in charge denies them that right. The one in charge, depending on the degree, could kill the other for simply disobeying or have them pregnant all the time, and never allowed to leave their room." Severus explained. "The term wife means anyone who is to bear the children."

"If Dumbledore creates it, you know he will make sure he will be in charge of you in a lot of ways while giving his puppets money from your vaults. He most likely will sign it in a few places, since we haven't changed the proxies yet, he would sign it as Chief Warlock, Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards and Headmaster of Hogwarts, Black as your magical guardian or closest magical relation. Dumbledore might try to do it as your magical guardian also. He most like will use Molly and Arthur Weasley as witnesses." Lucius explained. He was thankful they had delayed the switching of proxies now. They could create a nice mess for Dumbledore.

"If I declare it invalid, which it is, I will call on Lady Magic to judge it. Lady Magic will weigh the validity of the contract, the intentions of those who signed and will adjust the contract. Now since Weaslette is underage, the marriage in of itself won't happen for a few years, but all absolute contracts put in chastity clauses in there for pre-marriage and a few different fidelity ones for the one who isn't in charge."

"Oh, she will hate that, Weaslette is already been caught in a few compromising positions in a closet." Harry grinned. "Can this be published?"

"As soon as it is filed, Rita will find out. She will print it in the paper, and since she won't know it was declared an invalid contract and judged, she will print it as if he set it up." Lucius grinned. "Ironclaw asked if me to ask if he could have the memory of when Dumbledore reads it in the Daily Prophet."

"That explains Weaslette hanging on him last year. She had to have been promised to Harry." Severus couldn't believe how far Dumbledore was willing to go to gain control over Harry. "Black has been denied the post of teaching for Lupin during his time of the month. I am going to pull Harry from Lupin's class."

"Severus, how would you feel about teaching DADA to the children of the Death Eaters?" Harry asked, as an idea formed. "If enough people wrote in and pulled their children out of the classes, it would also hurt Dumbledore. We won't need to use Lupin's furry side, but we can use Black being in the castle, his mental stated, and how Lupin is responsible for him."

"It would work since Black's mental status has been Rita's favorite topic." Severus smirked. He watched Harry signed the magical restraining order, take a small silver knife and dropped his blood on the parchment. "How soon will it be served?"

"Tomorrow." Lucius grinned. He went to the floo in the other room and sent to the Ministry. "I will get everyone to start writing in, and arrange for you to receive extra pay to cover your time."

"I will send in Harry's withdrawal from the class as soon as you have it set up." Severus looked at them. "I wonder if we get the memory of the Mutt being served?"

"Do I have to take the train?" Harry asked as Severus was leaving. Today was the first day back and Harry didn't want to deal with anyone. Severus had only been staying during the day at Hogwarts and flooing back to the Manor each night.

"Well, if you come with me, you know Dumbledore is going to try to find a way to get you to see the Mutt and Lupin. They decided that the Mutt couldn't handle the train. Dumbledore is still upset about the number of students who signed up to take DADA with me, instead of Lupin. So I expect him to try and corner you too. He seems to believe he can talk you into visiting with the Mutt. Minerva has interfered a few times to stop him from coming to Spinner's End during the day."

"I will take the train. I will just hide." Harry knew Dumbledore had been giving Severus a hard time.

"Good, no killing anyone, or even seriously maiming." Severus gave him a slight smile. "You could borrow something from the Mutt's prank book he sent over."

"Did you read that thing? All it did was reinforce my idea that they were bullies." Harry didn't like any of the jokes they played on people and it made him realize just how biased Dumbledore was towards anyone who wasn't a lion.

"I lived it, and I am thankful you don't want to do that to anyone, even if you would rather murder those that annoy you." Severus had no illusion about Harry. The boy would kill someone if they tried to hurt him, and now he knew a few select people were included in that, with his name being at the top of the list, followed by Lucius and the Dark Lord.

"I cast a good memory charm." Harry retorted, trying not to grin, as Severus headed to the floo.

Harry hide on the train. He really didn't want to deal with any of them. He quickly made it to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Fred and George. The twins were one of the few people in Gryffindor he could stand. "Look its Harrykins." They stated. Fred handed Harry the pumpkin juice jug.

"Thanks Forge."

"I am Gred." Fred replied.

"No, your Fred, he's George." Harry replied. He knew the twins liked to confuse people, but if they looked closely anyone could tell the difference.

"One of the many reasons we like you." They said together. They had never been able to fool Harry. He wouldn't tell them exactly how he knew, each time someone asked, Harry gave a different answer, from the number of freckles on their faces to the position of their hair.

"How was-"

"The train?"

"Long. Avoided the morons." Harry answered. "I am expecting to be called up to Headmaster's office." The twins helped Harry escape their siblings and Granger a few times.

"We signed up for Snape's class." Fred stated.

"Mum and Dad weren't happy." George added.

"But we reminded them of Black." They said together.

"A lot of students have. I think only a handful are in Lupin's class. Severus is actually excited to teach DADA. He is still going to do a lot of the potion classes too." Harry didn't add that he was going to help with potions.

Fred and George leaned closer to Harry. "Do you think Snape will help us with our potions?" They asked together.

"Ask and you might be surprised." Harry told them. If people realized how much Severus had changed, they might have believed that he was under a curse. Harry watched the Twins exchange a look. Harry suddenly had Weaslette in his lap. "Get off of me."

"We looked all over the train for you." Weaslette told him, as Harry moved his face away from her attempt at a kiss.

"Ewww." The Twins made a face.

"I agree." Harry said, trying to push Weaslette off of his lap. "Stop trying to sit on my lap. I am very not interested in you." Several students around them started laughing.

"Harry." Granger tried to sound like she wasn't about to yell at him. "She just missed you over the summer."

"Well I didn't miss her and would love it if she stayed away from me." Harry snapped at Granger. "I am not interested in her." Harry stood up, dumping her on the floor. He headed out of the Great Hall ignoring Dumbledore and McGonagall calling his name.

Severus watched Harry leave the Great Hall, stood up and walked to Dumbledore. "I warned you." He headed off to find Harry. He had told Dumbledore that very morning not to try anything concerning Harry. The boy didn't trust Dumbledore and didn't like the two younger Weasley and Granger. As he was stepping down from raised platform the Head Table was on, he heard McGonagall say "I can't believe she sat on his lap. I will be speaking to the three of them."

Severus opened the door to his quarters, he touched Harry's shoulder. "You didn't hurt them, I am very proud of you."

"I wouldn't say that Weaslette is going to have a hard time sitting down. A nice stinging hex will make sure she won't be sitting on me again. Dumbledore is going to try and give me a detention." Harry replied. "Not that I will actually attend any detention he assigns."

"Minerva is going to handle the bratty trio." Severus responded. "You want to spend the night here?"

"Yes. I was able to avoid them on the train. I think that is why they made a big scene in the Hall. I heard people wondering why they were looking for me. A few rumors I heard is that Weaslette has been telling people I am her boyfriend."

Severus ordered some tea from the kitchen via the floo, he took his normal seat. "I believe almost dumping her on the floor will stem any more of those rumors."

"The twins are going to ask you if you will help them on their potions." Harry warned him, he watched Severus' lift an eyebrow. "They also signed up for your DADA class, their parents weren't happy about it."

Harry was walking to his DADA class when he saw a big black dog running towards him. The dog was suddenly tossed against the wall, and being frozen up against the wall, where the dog landed. Harry looked around and didn't see anyone who could have done it. He tilted his head, but continued on his way, he glanced over his shoulder once, as he heard a thud of the dog landing on the floor. "Interesting." Harry commented.

"Severus!" Harry was running down towards the dungeons. The black dog was after him again, granted the dog couldn't get close to him, but it was almost the end of September and it was almost a daily occurrence. He didn't want to hurt an animal but the dog was freaking him out.

"Harry?" Severus exited his classroom, hearing Harry yelling his name. He saw Harry running towards him with a big black dog chasing him. Harry hid behind him.

"It won't leave me alone." Harry told him. The dog was suddenly slammed into a wall again.

Soon the dungeon hallways were filled with students and staff, who had been following Harry and the dog. "What is going on?" McGonagall asked turning the corner.

"That dog, it's been chasing me all month, it won't leave me alone." Harry pointed at the dog. The dog went to its belly and tried to crawl forward, and when it was at the restriction mark, stopped, and started whining. "I have a dog stalker."

Lupin finally joined them, with Dumbledore next to him. "I apologize. He just wants to be friends with you. He is harmless."

"He has been terrorizing me all month. Someone has been tossing him into a wall when he gets close to me." Harry told them. He was still behind Severus. He wasn't getting closer to the crazy mutt. He had never been a fan of dogs thanks to Aunt Marge's dog, Ripper.

Severus glared at the black dog, to Lupin and Dumbledore. "We will be discussing this after my class."

Harry peeked up at Severus looked at the dog, Lupin, and Dumbledore. Lupin had the dog by the collar. "That's BLACK! He isn't to get near me." Harry was furious. "You have been chasing me all month!."

"Harry, go into my office." Severus told him, he was hoping Harry would listen. He didn't blame him for being upset.

"Harry, he only wants to get to know you." Lupin tried.

Harry glared but didn't say anything, instead headed for Severus' office. Harry was ready to hex Black, Lupin, and Dumbledore. He had to run to get rid of the dog, if he had known it was Black, the plan would have been vastly different.

Two hours later:

Harry and Severus were seated in Dumbledore's office, with Lucius and Madam Bones sitting next to them. Lupin and McGonagall were sitting on the other side of Madam Bones. Dumbledore was behind his desk offering lemon drops.

"Where is Mr. Black?" Madam Bones asked. She had spoken to Harry before they had this meeting, Harry truly hadn't known it was Black.

"He is in our quarters I gave him a calming draught. He is very upset that Harry won't go near him." Lupin stated. He knew this was a bad idea. He didn't think Sirius was ready to be around anyone. He really needed to be committed to St. Mungos for care.

"He still believes Harry is James Potter." Lucius stated. Dumbledore had been almost a weekly visitor to Madam Bones' office trying to get control over Harry. They had assigned some of the proxies and with the sealed records, Dumbledore was barely Chief Warlock. He would be totally ousted when they finished assigning all of the proxies.

"He has been violating the magical restraining order. He needs to be removed from Hogwarts. He was only allowed to come here as he was under your care Mr. Lupin. Part of our deal was that he wouldn't be bothering students." Madam Bones commented. "You need to find another place to place him. He also has missed a few of his appointments. Which means any attempt at guardianship is now delayed." Reminding Dumbledore of the agreement. She enjoyed watching the man face as he heard the news.

"I don't believe that will be necessary, now that Harry is aware of Sirius' Animagi form, Harry can avoid Sirius and triggering the restraining order. Hogwarts is big enough for the two of them."

"How is this Harry's fault? He didn't even know the Mutt was the black dog that was chasing him for the past month. Almost everyone in Hogwarts saw Harry running from the Mutt." Severus couldn't believe the sheer nerve of the man.

"No need to keep referring to Sirius as the Mutt." Lupin stated. Lupin knew this was a losing battle, he had been warning Dumbledore and Black from the very beginning this wasn't a good idea.

"I have numerous reports from a variety of students, in all four houses, complaining about a big black dog roaming the halls, chasing Mr. Potter, causing the other students to fall. The dog being thrown into a wall which caused several innocent students to earn detentions for it. When it was actually the magical restraining order doing it." Lucius handed copies of everything to Dumbledore. "You will find an order for the removal of Sirius Black from Hogwarts."

"He needs help, Albus. He has been nothing but destructive in the common room." McGonagall stated, she didn't even want to think of the pranks he had been in the process of showing the first years. Thankfully Percy had stopped him, while the twins pranksters had come and gotten her. When she asked why they did, they said he was teaching some dangerous pranks.

"I am sure we can work this out. Sirius really wants to get to know Harry." Dumbledore tried.

"He has terrorized him for a month." Severus growled out. "How he came up with the idea of his Animagi form not being affected by the restraining order I will never understand." The man was an Auror, he should know the restraining ordered was blood-based.

"He will be off of Hogwarts property by tomorrow night. Is there anything else?" Madam Bones ended the debate regarding Black.

"Yes, can I find out about keeping Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, and Hermione Granger away from me? Ginny keeps trying to sit on my lap, telling everyone I am her boyfriend when I can't stand her. She keeps trying to kiss me." His face was making it very clear about how he felt about being kissed by her. "Granger is always hitting me, trying to boss me around. She actually keeps giving me a study schedule. Ron Weasley has made it very clear his opinion of me for turning a traitor, and a few other terms which I won't repeat in mixed company."

"Harry, they are your friends." Dumbledore gave him a disappointed frown.

"No, they are bullies. Granger believes everything needs to be done her way, on her schedule, and if you say anything against it, you get hit. I am not the only one she hits."

"He is correct, she does like to hit." Minerva and Lupin said.

"Ron Weasley, if he thinks no professor are around, calls me a traitor, a future Death Eater, and well, you get the idea. I already mentioned the issues with Ginny Weasley. I have found them trying to break into my trunk, that is on their detention slips by the way." Harry told Madam Bones. Harry could see Lucius was trying not to hide his mirth at digging Dumbledore's pawns into a deeper mess.

"These events have been seen?" Madam Bones asked.

"Yes, almost every meal, every time I am in the common room or even sitting outside Ginny has tried to remaining sitting on my lap, kissing me."

"You have had your revenge. I know it had to be you who did the stinging hex." Dumbledore reminded Harry.

"No, it actually could be anyone, most of the students don't care for the three of them and they call them the Bratty Trio." Harry answered he didn't mention that he was the one who spread that name around. "You assume it is me, but I haven't pulled my wand on any of them."

Severus smirked, Harry was telling the truth. Harry hadn't pulled out his wand anytime he hexed the girl. He was also correct in that it wasn't just him hexing the Bratty Trio. "I have caught few other students doing it." Severus stated, backing up Harry. "Three Ravenclaws, six from their own house, two Hufflepuffs and three Slytherins."

"I have too." McGonagall added, she was getting tired of the games Dumbledore was playing with Harry. The boy didn't even talk to either of them. This was the most she ever heard out of the boy in the past two years and one month.

"I see." Madam Bones looked at Dumbledore. "Since they're minors and this school hasn't followed the Muggle world in the idea of no tolerance of bullying I will be speaking to the Board regarding these and other issues. Headmaster, Professor McGonagall, I would recommend you speak to those three students, remind them of the rules."

McGonagall sighed, she had been trying to get control over the three of them, but Dumbledore always let them off. She knew it wasn't going to change anytime soon as Dumbledore said, "it's just a slight misunderstanding. I will speak to all four of them."

"I haven't done anything." Harry stated. "This is what I have been dealing with." He turned and faced Madam Bones. "If his precious trio does anything to anyone, it's a slight misunderstanding. If they do something to me, I am responsible for it, not them. He wants the four of us to be the new generation of Marauders, but they were bullies."

"Harry! Your father wasn't a bully." Lupin stated.

"Really, you want me to bring up the pranks that Black wrote they did. Did you forget he sent me their prank journal?" Harry glared. "How about we hang you upside down, outside for everyone to see your underwear? How about we steal your homework? How about we steal your quills and ink? How about we remove your clothes in classes? How about sending someone after a dark creature? Sirius was very ecstatic over that prank."

As Harry spoke, the adults were starting to look a bit upset. Harry continued, "Pranks are fine but to set out to kill someone is the uttermost in stupidity, and he should have been charged with attempted murder. The worse part was he bragged about getting away with it. He bragged about how the ones he set up, got into trouble while he and my father got off." By the end of Harry's rant, his magic was flaring around him. "You want me to spend time with someone who tried to kill someone else. You want me to spend time with a person who is so selfish, that he isn't even trying to get healthy, but instead is so immature he was chasing me around Hogwarts."

"Harry." Severus touched him, gently. He knew Harry was losing control. When he had Harry's attention, he watched Harry regain control. "Go. Lucius and I will speak to you afterward."

Harry stood up. He glared at Lupin. He needed to go and blow off some steam. Severus watched him leaving, hoping no one would stop the boy or they would find themselves in a very painful situation. He knew Harry was only upset about the pranks the Mutt wrote about because they were done on him. He also knew the Twins would never do something like that to anyone.

Harry made his way back to Severus' quarters. He had been down in the Chamber. He spent some his time talking to the Diary Tom. He told him what was happening, why he was down there. Diary Tom listened, understood, and when Harry was done speaking, he started teaching Harry some new spells.

Harry was aiming to burn off some of his anger by going out into the dueling chamber and practicing some of the new spells. Before he left, Diary Tom guided him to some of the older tomes and had him take a few for Severus and him to read.

He quietly entered Severus' quarters, it was late, and he didn't want to return to the dorm since his entrance would be recorded and he didn't want to give Dumbledore any reason to give him a detention. "I already told them you would be spending the night."

"Thanks." Harry sat down on the chair. Severus was sitting on the couch, dressed in his dressing gown and a book in his lap.

"Harry, how are you doing?"

"Better, talked with Diary Tom, he taught me some new spells, worked off some steam. At least our plan worked, though next time I won't be running from him, I will hex the man." Harry stated.

"I wouldn't expect anything less." He knew he should work on curbing Harry's more violent tendency but found he really didn't want to. "Go to bed, you have classes tomorrow."

"So do you." Harry replied.

"I am going too."

Chapter Management

Chapter 15: Proving the Dumb in Dumbledore

Harry was in the library reading when he felt like someone was watching him. He turned around and saw Neville Longbottom at the table behind him. He frowned and wondered why Neville was staring at him. He really hadn't spoken the quiet boy. "Longbottom?"

Harry watched him look around the library and get up and move towards him. "I don't know exactly what is going on, but I think you should know, I heard Ginny telling Hermione that Dumbledore and her parents plan on releasing a marriage contract so that you will be forced to spend time with them."

"Really? When was this?" Harry asked.

"This morning, after you left the common room, I was heading down the stairs from our dorm and heard them. I think they thought everyone had left." He glanced around again. "Hermione commented that they would get the funds returned to them."

Harry smirked. "Thank you, Longbottom. I greatly appreciate it."

"Welcome, I wouldn't want to be married to either of those she-devils." Neville answered. "I better get out of here I know Hermione will be here soon and if she sees I am speaking to you."

"Understood." Harry grinned. "I have someone to speak to also." Harry gathered up his belongings and was on the way out of the library when the Bratty Trio arrived. The three of them gave Harry a smirk. Harry wanted to return the smirk and knew when this came back to bite them he would be smirking.

He entered the potion classroom and took a seat in the back. It was Severus' NEWT level potion class, so when Severus made his way to him, Harry said, "I just got told something interesting."

"After my class." Severus replied. The students were almost finished with their potions and Severus could tell from Harry's grin, it was something that they could use.

"Lucius there is one more piece of business we need to discuss." Ironclaw and Lucius meet every Thursday to go over the various accounts. They had finished moving all but the Potter seats to Lucius last week. Dumbledore had been furious when during that Friday session he lost control of the Wizengamot.

"Dumbledore has been here?" Lucius asked. He wondered what the man has tried now.

"Yes, he filed a marriage contract, signed by Sirius Black, this morning."

"How can we contest it without him knowing?" Lucius wasn't sure what game Dumbledore was playing. He had to know it was an illegal contract and even if in the future Black got custody of Harry, it still would be an illegal one. Was the man relying on Harry not contesting it? "He is relying on Harry not reading the contract after Black gets control."

"Harry can contest it by simply calling on Lady Magic to judge it. No one will know if he does it in a private place. It will change contract here and the copy at the Ministry. He is counting on Harry being ignorant of his social standing. When he spoke to his own account manager regarding filing the contract, Mr. Dumbledore mentioned holding off on announcing it for a few years. Mr. Dumbledore, also, had to put a hold on a number of things he had planned because of the loss of the seats. He was trying to find a way to get a goblin to come to Hogwarts and do Inheritance Tests on Muggle-borns and Half-bloods."

"Hoping to find missing seats." Lucius wasn't surprised by this news but he didn't think the man would sink that lowly to do something like that. "Is there a way to prevent it?"

"We already have. We informed him that if he brought any student or had any student tested, we would be required to notify Madam Bones and arrange for the student to meet with an advisor and an account manager if they had any seats."

"I bet he didn't react well to that." Lucius knew the man didn't like his planned blocked. "I better let Harry and Severus know about his newest development. Good day, Ironclaw."

"Good day." Ironclaw returned. He couldn't wait for them to finish removing Dumbledore from power.

***************************************************************8

Harry was sitting between Fred and George when the Daily Prophet arrived. It was two days before the Yule break and he was looking forward to it. For the past month, he had seen the sly looks and smirks the Bratty Trio was sending him and he wasn't sure how much longer he could handle them.

He heard a slight gasp and looked at Neville who was sitting across from him. "Fred, George, you need to see the Prophet." Seamus handed the paper to the twins.

Harry picked up his own copy and stared at the headline:

BLACK, DUMBLEDORE, GRANGER, AND GINNY WEASLEY ARE TO BE MARRIED.

by: Rita Skeeter

My precious readers, I am shocked as you are. The contract is valid and I will share with you all I know. However, some background information first. I was down in the marriage contract filing room, after hearing an interesting rumor about the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter, having a marriage contract. I won't mention who supplied the rumor but it comes from a student at Hogwarts who is mentioned in the contract and has red hair.

So I was researching this juicy rumor and discovered there isn't a marriage contract for our Boy-Who-Lived, but one created for the four mentioned, with the signatures of Arthur and Molly Weasley as well as Albus Dumbledore as witnesses, Chief Warlock and Headmaster.

Now to the details, well the really interesting ones I know you are all want to hear. Miss Hermione Granger will be marrying Miss Ginerva Weasley. Miss Weasley will be considered the husband while placing Miss Granger under an Absolute Contract. Yes, my darlings, it's an Absolute Contract. They are required to marry within a month of Miss Weasley attaining the age of seventeen.

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore must marry Sirius Black within six months. Now, here is an interesting twist, it's also an Absolute Contract. We all have been hearing about Black's mental health problems, so the contract has placed them both as the wives, with Remus Lupin as the husband. Now, Mr. Lupin didn't sign as a witness, but he did sign as the current guardian of Sirius Black.

We are aware of the how tightly controlled an Absolute Contract can be regarding the rules and I have to say this one has some very tight ones. I am sure the pure-blood families are aware of those conditions, and I can inform you that every single condition is listed in this contract.

See page 2 for the history of Absolute Contracts  
See page 4 for some of the strongest rules

Harry glanced up to see Dumbledore's vein looking like it was ready to explode. Harry could hear the turning of the pages as people began to read what could be included in an Absolute Contract.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID IT. I WARNED YOU ABOUT TELLING THAT BITCH." Weasley bellowed at Weaslette, who was crying and ran out of the Great Hall, with Granger running behind her. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT." Weasley screamed at Dumbledore.

"My office Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore rose from his chair, leaned down to McGonagall, who was glaring at him. He didn't give her time to respond as he walked away.

Harry watched McGonagall get up, she walked to Severus and said something. Severus answered her, as he rose. "Students classes are canceled. Please head to your common rooms." Severus stated.

Harry waited until everyone was gone and walked up to Severus. "That was interesting. I didn't think they would want to release it yet."

"I agree. I thought they would have waited until the end of the school year." Severus looked at down at the paper in his hand still. "I believe she was hoping for a Yule wedding."

"We are kind of young to be married." Harry answered.

"I agree, but see part of why the Mutt and Dumbledore must marry within six months is because usually an Absolute Contract as to be fulfilled within six months of its release." Severus explained. "I believe that is also why it gave the girls a few years before they are required since the time frame will be fulfilled."

"I really need to read about these marriage contracts. I have it on my to-do list." Harry said. "Anything else that is interesting in an Absolute?"

"Let's just say, Dumbledore and the Mutt better hope that Lupin is in a good mood all the time. He can restrict their speaking, their movements, even their wardrobes."

"Oh, get him out of those awful robes. I wonder if Lupin would take a few helpful suggestions?" Harry asked.

"Most likely Lupin won't do anything. He views Dumbledore as his Alpha, he will do the bare minimum, but he will be able to keep the Mutt under control at least as I believe he wants the Mutt to get help and Dumbledore has been the one stopping it from happening." Severus said. "I am going to see if I can find out more information."

"Have fun, I am going to sit in the common room and listen to everyone discuss what they have heard from the Bratty Trio." Harry felt like almost skipping to the common room. Another one of Dumbledore's plans totally ruined, and this time they didn't have to do much work to have it ruined."

McGonagall had already escorted the two crying girls out of the common room. Harry knew she was bringing them to Dumbledore's office. He wished he could be there for that meeting. Harry, instead, was sitting on the couch in the common room listening to everyone trying to figure out what they just read. "Can anyone tell me what some of the rules Skeeter was referring to?" Colin Creevey asked.

"There are a lot. An extreme one is harsh." Katie Bell answered, she was sitting next to Fred, who was still looking at page 2 and then page 4.

"Very harsh." Lee Jordan informed them. "The Husband, can be either male or female, is in full control. I mean totally in control. His word is law." Lee paused, looked at the twins and then continued. "The husband can decide when you go bed, where you to sleep, what time you get up, eat, drink, even speak."

"They pick out your clothes; can forbid you from speaking, any time or place or even who you can have for friends. They can punish you as they please." Angelina added as she squeezed George's hand.

"It gets worse. They decide when the wife will have a child, how the child is raised. The husband can even lock the wife up, restrain the wife, even bring the wife out in public with a lead if they wanted, and no one can do anything about it." Fred didn't want to think what was going to happen to his sister. Granger as a bit violent and she wouldn't take this marriage well.

"That's barbaric." Dean Thomas stated.

"An Absolute Contract was originally designed to end wars, usually by keeping the loser bound to the winner. It was also a way for an unruly ward or child to be controlled. They were also used to keep war from breaking out. An Absolute wasn't designed to be used as a basic marriage contract. Dumbledore knows that." George added. "I am wondering what my parents were thinking of signing something like that."

"No idea, I can't believe your sister told Skeeter." Lee shook his head in denial. "What was she thinking?"

"She listened to Granger." Neville spoke. "I heard them over a month ago talking about a marriage contract and money."

All eyes turned to Neville. "What exactly did you hear?" Fred asked, no one would have ever thought Fred was a prankster with that tone of voice.

"I heard Ginny telling Hermione that Dumbledore and her parents plan on releasing a marriage contract so that Harry would be forced to spend time with them. Last week, I heard her tell Hermione that is was done. I didn't know what she meant at the time." Neville answered.

"Dumbledore didn't look like he wanted it released, he looked furious." Seamus commented and everyone agreed.

"I don't think he wanted it released yet. I think that was just Ginny and Hermione's plans. They didn't mention Dumbledore wanting it released right away." Neville explained. "They have a bad habit of thinking everyone is gone and speaking about things."

"They do. I heard them saying something about Dumbledore wanting to wait until the end of the year. I didn't know what they meant." Lavender Brown said. "They were in our dorm room speaking and didn't realize we were in the bathroom. They stopped speaking when we opened the door but we did hear that."

"We did." Padma agreed. "There have been other weird things, including Ron's comments, that they have been saying but now it makes sense."

"What has Ron been saying?" Lee asked.

"They were speaking about getting money returned to them. Something about being paid to be friends with Harry." Lavender stated. "There was something about using Harry's stuff. Ron was telling Hermione how to break into Harry's trunk."

All eyes turned to Harry. "All true." Harry answered. "That is why they have been trying to be friends with me again."

Percy finally spoke. "I believe it's time we spoke to our parents." Percy got up and with Fred and George exited Gryffindor Tower.

Saturday arrived and Harry was at his desk working on the accounts when Lucius joined them. The Death Eaters were working on their own projects. Harry looked up as Lucius took a seat. "Good news?"

"It depends on how we want to handle Dumbledore. We can actually work with it, and if we get him into enough trouble it will revert to a complete Absolute Contract. The contract is going to be enforced, however, they reached an agreement and came up with amendments to it. Lady Magic accepted the terms." Lucius answered.

"Interesting. What are the new terms?"

"Dumbledore will remain as Headmaster, Lupin will still be in charge, but it won't be a strict Absolute Contract. Black and Dumbledore won't be subjected to him fully. Dumbledore is going to be viewed as the Beta, but only is required to take orders if Lupin feels strongly about things."

"In other words, nothing has changed?" Harry asked.

"Exactly. The interesting part, I believe is that Lady Magic didn't accept any change to the Weasley girl and Granger aspect. I believe because they were the ones who pushed for it to be made public." Lucius explained.

"That is interesting. I still haven't read everything, but is there a way to force them to marry sooner? Like if they were expelled? I don't think Dumbledore is going to be too supportive of them." Harry wondered if maybe, they could find a way to get Dumbledore to deal with the annoying girls.

"No, because it states an age, not if there left school or were expelled. The contract won't come into effect until Weasley is seventeen. However, they were required to take a Vow of chastity until they were married."

"Weaslette is going to hate that. She likes the attention of boys too much." Harry grinned.

"Not anymore she won't." Lucius smirked. "Is Severus down in his lab?"

"Yes, I got some more Basilisk skin for him to use. He should be up soon for our meeting." Harry answered.

Rookwood came in and held out a map to Harry. "We found him. He is in Russia."

"Go, take who you need with you." Harry ordered.

Chapter Management

Chapter 16: The Dark Lord

Rookwood arrived with the wraith form of the Dark Lord at Malfoy Manor. Harry, Severus, and Lucius were already in the ritual chamber. "Harry, I believe we have something to speak about." The Dark Lord wasn't happy about being burned nor the wait to find him.

"Dumbledore." Harry responded.

They could see the Dark Lord close his eyes. "What did he do?"

The four of them proceeded to fill in the Dark Lord on all that had occurred, including what happened with the Stone, how Harry went to Severus, and what they had been doing. The Dark Lord started laughing. "He has to marry and be the beta, I want to see the memory of him reading the paper."

"You can. Let's get this ritual over with. I picked up Diary Tom." Harry held up the diary. Harry placed the diary in the middle of the chamber and everyone took a point. Harry stood on the northern point, Severus was east, Rookwood was on the south point, and Lucius stood on the west point.

The Dark Lord floated to the center of the chamber and stood on the axis. The candles flared to life as Harry waved his hand, putting out the main light source in the room. The candles filled the room with the scent of Jasmine and Sage.

Rookwood, Harry, Severus, and Lucius began by saying:

"Protect your child and save his intentions from all evil, harm or misfortune."

The Dark Lord shimmered as magic started swirling. Lucius called upon the West by saying:

"The veil is thin, and we begin to see, the open secret of the Wheel."

Harry, Severus, and Rookwood tipped some candle wax as they faced the west. They all faced east. Severus called upon the East by saying:

"Waters of birth, pouring a new life, the tears of mourners spilled on the grave of the forefather. Bring in this hour the virtue of compassion. All that was and should have been. We welcome the spirit of Tom Marvolo Riddle into our midst. Welcome, Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Harry, Lucius, and Rookwood tipped some candle wax as they faced the east. They all faced north, Harry called upon the north by saying:

"Land of the graves, into which we return, bring forth new life. A life into the next phase of the wheel of life. Bring in this hour the strength of stability. Stability from death and rebirth. We welcome the spirit of the earth to stabilize Tom Marvolo Riddle's soul."

Rookwood, Lucius, and Severus tipped some candle wax as they faced the north. They all faced south, Rookwood called upon the south by saying:

"By the breath of each new dawn, before the last breath of death, we offer at this time the strength of clarity. We bring an end, from which we now restart the life of Tom Marvolo Riddle. We welcome the return of Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Lucius, Harry, and Severus tipped some candle wax as they faced south. They all poured more wax covering the runic design they were stationed at. They watched magic swirl around Tom, giving him a more solid form. Together they spoke:

"Spark of the flame, which will increase in the fire, smoldering charcoal pyre, bring in this hour the return of Tom Marvolo Riddle."

The runic symbol in the middle of the room started burning.

"Child, Father, Sage and King of Shadows, all you were, all you will be again. Bring in this hour, your magic power. Return to your life."

The Dark Lord had magic now flowing through him, his body was becoming solid. They continued:

"Maiden, Mother, Old Woman, Sorceress, Lady Magic, you were in the beginning of life and will be after. Bring in this hour your mysterious force. Past and future are woven on your machine, we welcome the return of Tom Marvolo Riddle into our midst."

Tom screamed as magic exploded around him. They continued:

"Inner Spirit, be with us now as we renew the magical spirit between us, around us, and through us. We acquire a better understanding of the Wheel of the Life".

The Dark Lord fell to the floor, his body fully formed, his magic sparking around him. They continued:

"The circle was created, and we stand between the worlds. Beyond the boundaries of time, where pain and pleasure, darkness and light, loss and acquisition, death and life, do not have differences. We are blessed."

The four of them picked up the bundles of herbs, a mixture of thyme, rosemary, jasmine, sage, and fennel, and a Galleon each. "This is our payment." They placed their payment in front of them, on the floor, on top of the runic symbols.

"So be it." The Dark Lord mumbled.

"So be it." They replied.

The Dark Lord climbed to his knees. He looked at his offerings and continued with the ritual. "From the fruit of my life, I tasted death, I drink from the chalice and make an offering to the elements." He picked up the chalice and took a sip, he poured a few drops over the runic symbols for life and death. He picked up an apple, started to cut it into pieces. "I offer to the sun, the moon, and the dead." He placed an apple slice on each of the matching symbols.

He took another sip from the chalice. "From the cup of death, I taste life." He laid the chalice on its side, allowing the remaining juice to cover the symbols in front of him. "The spirit in me, thank you for the blessing of your presence in aiding in my return, Lady Magic and my friends. Mother, Old Woman, Lady Magic, thank you for the blessing of your presence. Stay or go as you please. Hello and goodbye." The Dark Lord extinguish the silver candle that had been placed on a small pedestal to the north of him.

Severus, Lucius, Harry, and Rookwood picked up their candles. "King of Shadows, Child, Father, Sage, thank you for the blessing of your presence. Stay or go as you please. Hello and goodbye." They extinguish their candles. Leaving the room almost dark.

Harry started walking to the east, as he walked to each of them, ending with the Dark Lord, he said: "The circle is open and remains whole. In life we have met, in death we shall part, but not for long. We are united in life and death. So mote it be."

"So mote it be." They all replied. Severus pulled out his potion pouch as Harry turn on the lights. Lucius gathered some clothes as Rookwood started to wave a sage bundle around the room to cleanse it.

Harry sat down next to Severus on the couch. The Dark Lord was upstairs sleeping. Lucius was escorting Rookwood to the floo. "You want to stay here tonight?"

Severus thought for a few minutes. "It might be a good idea. I expect he will want to speak to us tomorrow and make plans."

"True. I wonder what Dumbledore is going to try for the new term." Harry stated.

"I am not sure, but I am hoping he will be more concerned about his upcoming marriage and his pawns." Severus hadn't been called to an Order meeting but he knew it would only be a matter of time. He knew Dumbledore was going to try and figure a way out it.

"He is going to visit the goblins and the Ministry over the next few days. He won't take no for an answer. Ironclaw wrote a message to Lucius, saying Dumbledore had been in a few times just yesterday alone."

"Why doesn't that surprise me? Did he mention if Dumbledore called on Lady Magic or not?"

"No, he didn't. I wasn't sure if he could since it was already judged."

"He can, it won't change things overall. If he does it, it might change some minor things, but he might have already done it, and that is how he became the beta." Severus answered. "I will write a list of books for you to read about the different aspects of judgments, marriage, and contracts. I am sure Lucius could also provide you with a list of books regarding the various laws."

"I will add that to my ever growing list."

"I have a lot of books for him to read already." Lucius stated from the door. He was holding a folded piece of parchment. "Dumbledore left a note for you at Spinner's End. Dobby just gave it to me."

Severus took the piece of parchment, he opened it and groaned. "He wants to have an Order meeting tomorrow night, and Yule feast." He looked at Harry. "He wants you to attend."

Harry groaned. "I really don't want to attend."

"Neither do I." Severus looked at Harry. "You don't have to attend, but I have to. We need the information."

"He will be expecting Harry." Lucius stated. Lucius took a seat, summoned an elf for tea for them. After the Dobby left, he looked at Harry. "Black will be there. The magical restraining order should be a great excuse."

"It will also give me an out. I will attend the meeting but claim I want to have dinner with you. Explain how you knew the Mutt would be there, with the Weasley youngest." Severus already planned on how he was going to provide his information and leave.

Dumbledore refrained from erupting in anger. Severus arrived without Harry. He needed to get his hands on the boy soon. He needed to get him to sign the marriage contract so that he wouldn't have to get married. He didn't have much time. They had to get married and soon, he already had worked on Lupin and while it wasn't ideal, it was better than having to totally submit to Lupin. "Severus, where is Harry?"

"The magical restraining order against the Mutt is still in effect." Severus stated as he moved to his usual seat. He greeted Minerva as he took his seat.

"He still could have come. He is always welcomed here and I am sure he would have enjoyed having dinner with his friends." He stated.

"He doesn't have any friends, but the twins here." Severus answered. He saw the twins grin at that statement. The rest of the group frowned. "Are we here to talk about Harry or is this an Order meeting?"

"It's an Order meeting. I was expecting both of you to stay for Molly's wonderful Yule feast."

"I have food cooking." Severus answered. "I really don't have any new information. So when is the wedding?"

Dumbledore didn't respond, but Black did. "In two weeks, Snivellius. You better bring my godson."

Severus didn't even respond to the taunt, but Lupin injected before anyone could say anything. "We have it all set up, and I know you can't bring Harry due to the restraining order. Sirius, you know you can't get near Harry. We will have to wait to speak to him another time."

Dumbledore didn't respond but changed the subject as he knew if Black and Severus got started it would accomplish nothing and make Harry stay away. He really needed to get Black some help that would sign off on the release, but he needed to find a mind healer who could get others to sign off also to meet the demands by Madam Bones. "Have you heard anything about Lucius' plans?"

"No, he has been focused on his son and the divorce."

The rest of the meeting was Dumbledore trying to work out how to regain control. Severus made a note to himself that it wasn't anything that could work, but he wanted to inform Lucius, Harry, and the Dark Lord just in case.

Chapter Management

Chapter 17

Harry was trying not to scream or kill someone. Really, he was, but he couldn't take a second more of Granger's lecturing. "Shut up, shut up, shut up. Do you ever listen to yourself? You aren't my mother, you aren't my girlfriend, and you aren't even my friend. I do not need you lecturing me on what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. Go and bother someone else."

Granger just stared at him, her face full of shock. "There is no reason to treat her like that." Weasley stormed over to where they were sitting. Harry had been sitting in the corner of the common room, reading and doing his essay assignment, when Granger plopped down in the next chair and started rearranging his possessions, telling him which books he needed, which assignment he needed to work on.

"Weasley, this doesn't involve you. Granger went over there so she is the one in the wrong. Don't even think of trying to defend the girl's actions." Dean Thomas defended Harry.

However, soon the whole house was dragged into the mess because Weasley had to drag Percy into it, which meant the twins got involved as they were against Percy and Ron trying to blame Harry. Granger was trying to defend herself, while Lavender and Padma were pointing out the girl was wrong. Ginny got involved when she started to defend Granger. Harry had enough and left.

Harry arrived at Severus' quarters, gave the password and entered the living area. He pulled out his books and started his assignment. "Harry?"

Severus entered his quarters from his office, a bit surprised to find Harry sitting on the couch. "Gryffindors!" Harry growled.

Severus didn't say anything else, as he understood what the boy meant. He went to his desk and began to work on finishing grading essays from his dunderhead students. He was a bit surprised when almost twenty minutes later he heard a knock on his door. Harry looked at the clock. "Almost an hour for them to realize I was missing."

Severus opened the door to an irate Minerva McGonagall. Severus allowed her entrance. "Mr. Potter, you have a week worth of detention with Mr. Filch for fighting."

"What? I have been here for almost an hour, and I certainly wasn't in any fight."

"I have been with him for twenty minutes, and when I arrived he was doing his assignments." Minerva was a bit surprised. "Minerva, why don't you start at the beginning?" Severus indicated for her to take a seat. "I will get some tea."

"Thank you, Severus."

Once tea was served, and everyone was comfortable, Minerva asked, "what happened?"

"I was in the common room, in the back corner, by the window, working on my assignment. Granger came over and sat down next to me. I kept on working, when suddenly she grabbed my book, started giving me a lecture of what I needed to do, when to do it, how to it. She started to inform me my assignment was wrong, and how I needed to follow her schedule. How she was going to improve my grades and when she was free to tutor me. I told her to shut up, informed her very frankly that she wasn't my mother, etc. Weasley stormed over, I have no idea why he got involved, when he did, Thomas started on him. Weasley brought in his brothers, the girls started on Granger. I left."

"Minerva?" Severus looked at the woman and her face reflected how angry she was.

"Mr. Longbottom arrived at my door about thirty minutes ago. He said the students were fighting. I arrived to find my entire house in a brawl. Spells were being cast, as well as physical altercations. I finally got everything under control, sent students to the Infirmary. Ronald and Percy, along with Ms. Granger, assisted in bringing some of the students to the Infirmary, and after Poppy got them settled they started screaming about how it was Mr. Potter's fault. Ronald informed me that you sent a hex at him, Percy claimed that you cast the first spell, while Ms. Granger claimed she did nothing wrong."

Harry handed her his wand. "You can check."

"Do so. You know Albus is going to want to believe the Weasleys." Severus wondered if Granger did it on purpose. He knew Percy and Ronald blindly followed their mother, and she was firmly in Dumbledore's pocket. Percy was an eager to please, rule abiding stickler, and Severus knew the boy was defending his brother's actions.

Before Minerva could cast the spell, there was more knocking at Severus' door. He got up and opened it to find a bunch of Gryffindors. "Professor, we came to warn Harry. Professor McGonagall was lied to by Weasley and Granger. We heard what they told her, but we didn't get a chance to speak to her, as Madam Pomfrey was healing some of us."

"Warn Harry about what exactly?" Severus could tell that Minerva was listening.

"They informed her that Harry started the fight and that Granger didn't do anything, and that Harry cast the first hex. It's not true. Harry wasn't even around when wands were pulled." Dennis Creevey informed Severus.

"Ya, the wands were out because Weasley finally noticed that Harry wasn't there. He accused Harry of being a- I don't think you want to know." Lee Jordan added.

"He called Harry a lot of nasty names, things my mother would have left the soap in my mouth for a month if I said one of them." Padma informed them.

Minerva rose from her chair. The students saw her and all started chatting at once. "Cease." Severus ordered. "One at a time."

Soon Minerva, Severus, and Harry had the whole tale of how the fight started, including offers of their memories being submitted if needed. "I will deal with them. Go back to your common room. I will be assigning punishment to everyone tomorrow."

The Gryffindor mob left, with Harry remaining behind, at Minerva's look, Harry said: "I'm staying here tonight."

"Harry, why don't you go and get ready for bed." Severus waited until Harry exited the room. "He won't be serving any detentions. He did the right thing. He left the situation."

"I am in agreement." McGonagall sighed. "You know Albus is going to be furious about this and will find a way to get the points back to Gryffindor."

"Yes, I am aware."

Harry heard a thud and realized Black must have been slammed into a wall again. He wondered how the man was here at Hogwarts. He would have to see if Severus could send a letter to Madam Bones about it. He saw Lupin heading towards where he heard the thud. "Harry."

"Professor Lupin."

"I know Harry that we haven't really had a chance to speak to each other, but I would love to set up a time where we can chat. I won't tell Sirius or the Headmaster, I will give you my word on it."

Harry looked at him. "Why?"

"Your father was one of my dearest friends."

"So dear that you left his son to rot with those Muggles?" Harry really wondered about the light side. Were they all just really that blind to what was going on in the world? Were they so hoping that the rest of the world was just like them?

"I didn't know."

"You mean you didn't care to know." Harry was sick of their excuses. Why couldn't one of them just simply say, yes, I made a mistake? Yes, I should have checked on you. Instead, he got their excuses, Dumbledore said excuses.

"Dumbledore said-"

"Yes, I have heard. Is the man some type of god? Does he all know? Is he perfect? All of you keep providing his name with your sad excuses. You call me a kid, what is your excuse?" Harry turned on his heel and headed down to the dungeons, before he killed someone, preferably a Lion with a long white beard that couldn't dress without making him look like an idiot.

The end of the school year was almost here. The Leaving Feast was about to start, and Harry was sitting with the Weasley twins, and Lee Jordan at the end of the Gryffindor table. Harry barely spent any time in Gryffindor. On the weekends, he was usually with the Dark Lord, Lucius, and Severus working on ways to get rid of Dumbledore. They were almost finished with creating a totally new identity for the Dark Lord, one that would establish him on a political front. One that Dumbledore wouldn't be able to trace to the Dark Lord.

Gryffindor was in last place on the counter, but he had a feeling as Dumbledore began to speak that he was going to find a way to give the House Cup to Gryffindor, again. "He is going to do it again." Harry warned.

"It looks like it." The twins said together. After the fight in the Gryffindor common room, the twins and a few others distanced themselves from Granger and the three Weasleys. Most of the house was actually against the trio but didn't want McGonagall or Dumbledore giving them detentions.

"What?" Harry jerked his head up. "They just got fifty points for showing true Gryffindor courage. What did they do?"

"No idea." Lee Jordan remarked.

"We think it has to do with Lupin-"

"And Ron's missing rat."

"For protecting an injured fellow student, fifty points to Ginerva Weasley."

Harry glanced to Severus. "Severus knows what happened and he is furious."

"Lupin was packing. I heard him say he won't be returning next year." Neville informed them. "I heard Granger mention the word werewolf, but they didn't comment any further."

Harry tuned out the rest of what Dumbledore was saying as a few in Gryffindor cheered for getting the cup. All the other houses gave their usual polite clap. No one cared any longer about getting or losing points. "If something happened, like Lupin being a werewolf, not taking a potion-" Harry remembered seeing Severus making the potion.

The twins and the few who heard nodded their agreement. They figured out what happened.

"So he did it again?" Lucius was a bit surprised when he heard the news from Draco, but he got the full story from Severus and Harry. He couldn't believe Dumbledore was single-handedly wiping out the house point system.

"Yes. Lupin is now going to be given his full attention to Black." Severus snarled.

"Do you think it was something they planned?" The Dark Lord wondered if Dumbledore was doing more than endangering Harry.

"No, but I think he took advantage of the situation. Granger had a time-turner, I learned. So if something went wrong."

"I bet something happened." Harry had been thinking about a few things. "I believe he was hoping the Lions would unite around the three of them for winning the cup. It would also be promoting his idea that Granger is the smartest witch of our generation."

"He also has something planned for Black, I bet. He seemed very happy with Lupin leaving, so I am thinking he is going to bring in one of his stooges to teach DADA next year." Severus was glad that Lupin and Black would have no excuse to remain at Hogwarts.

"You would be correct." Poppy entered the backroom. "He is working on getting an Auror placed at Hogwarts. He wants to get the students ready for when you return Marvolo."

"Care for a drink Poppy?" Lucius asked. "Everyone is due to arrive in about an hour."

"Yes, please. I know I am early, but I had to get away from that man and his schemes. He wants me to work with Black. He wants to have Black be able to speak to me, in addition to his regular mind healer. He is hoping that Black will recover faster that way. He tried to say how much more comfortable Black would be." Poppy sat down as Lucius poured her a drink.

"We might be able to use that." Harry grinned. "He isn't allowed to interfere, correct?"

"Correct." Lucius smirked.

"I already turned him down. Told him I am off to my sisters for my holiday. I, however, provided him with a name he might use."

"Who?"

"Dom Lorrom Dovetail." Poppy took a sip of her drink.

"I am sure I can be available to see Mr. Black." The Dark Lord had a lot of ideas concerning Mr. Black.

Before they could discuss anything else, Dawlish arrived. "Thank Merlin, you are here. I was so afraid that Dumbledore might have already gotten you."

"What happened?" The Dark Lord asked.

"My Lord, I'm sorry. I didn't see you." Dawlish bowed.

"Tell us what happened?"

"Dumbledore got Cornelius to release the restraining order. He talked Cornelius into allowing Black visitation rights."

"What?"

"I think it's more, however. When he left the Ministry, I followed him. He met up with Black and Lupin. He said it would only be a matter of time before he had Harry in his hands and that Harry would be safe at Black's house."


End file.
